'Mental Health Is Huge... I Had To Experience It To Understand It': CoCo Vandeweghe On World Team Tennis All Star Event, Tennis Career

(CBS Local Sports)-- CoCo Vandeweghe is one of the best American tennis players in the world and she is excited to remind people who have forgotten.

Vandeweghe had a monster 2017 season when she reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and US Open and made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Tennis fans will get the chance to watch Vandeweghe play this weekend on Saturday, April 4 at 1:30pm EST when CBS airs the World Team Tennis All Star Event.

The event was taped prior to the outbreak of coronavirus around the country and Vandeweghe will share the court with names like Maria Sharapova, Monica Puig, Taylor Townsend, James Blake and Marty Fish.

"I love the event and I love World Team Tennis. Little did I know this would be one of the last live matches I played to this point in the year," said Vandeweghe in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "It's so much fun with the atmosphere, the fans, the music, and the different people you get to play against and play with."

FULL INTERVIEW:

While Vandeweghe has had some major success on the court as a junior and a professional, she's also had to overcome a lot. Things were great on the court for Vandeweghe is 2017, but things weren't great off the court. That's why the 2018 US Open Doubles champion decided to reach out a mental training coach for the first time in her career.

"The grand slams are so emotionally draining and they took a lot out of me," said Vandeweghe. "I brought in a mental coach and I had never done that. I was very against it and I thought it was all BS if you can't do it for yourself. At that moment, I was like I never want to have this feeling again. I've worked with a mental coach since 2017 after Wimbledon. Mental health is huge. I had to experience it to understand it. Asking for help is big. I can say I've never been more depressed in my life than 2017 when I was having the best year of my life on the court. To come out of that in 2018 and I was really struggling mentally. It is definitely something that needs to be talked about. It's an every day battle and sports magnifies it."

Watch Vandeweghe Saturday on CBS at the World Team Tennis All Star Event.