Cambridge 19 | Test 2 | Passage 2

Athletes and Stress

It isn’t easy being a professional athlete. Not only are the physical demands greater than most people could handle, athletes also face intense psychological pressure during competition. This is something that British tennis player Emma Raducanu wrote about on social media following herwithdrawalfrom the 2021 Wimbledon tournament. Though the young player had been doing well in the tournament, she began having difficultyregulating her breathing and heart rate during a match, which she later attributed to the “accumulation of the excitement and thebuzz.”

withdrawal (noun) [ C/U ]

/wɪðˈdrɑː.əl/

an act of taking something back, removing something, or moving something back

Her sudden withdrawal from the competition surprised everyone.

regulate (verb) [transitive]

/ˈreɡjuleɪt/

to control something, especially by making it work in a particular way

Her mother strictly regulates how much TV she can watch.

buzz (noun) [ C usually singular ] informal

/bʌz/

a feeling of excitement, energy, and pleasure that something gives you

I get a buzz out of public speaking.