Tennis great Todd Woodbridge has revealed he suffered a mild heart attack last week.
The popular TV commentator says he was “shocked” when he experienced chest pains and other symptoms he now knows to have been a heart attack.
The 51-year-old says the episode came out of nowhere as he was exercising as part of his daily routine, as first reported by The Herald Sun
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The 16-time grand slam doubles champion has been steadfast with his health after retiring in 2005.
It’s why the episode has prompted him to speak about his heart scare publicly.
Woodbridge posted on Twitter on Thursday family genetics played a significant part as a cause in triggering the attack.
“My family genetics dictated that I would have cholesterol issues and that was a major cause of my episode,” he posted.
Woodbridge also told 3AW in an interview on Thursday he “didn’t think it was going to happen to me”.
“My dad carried a pretty heavy cholesterol issue, I have that, and as we spoke about in What Makes You Tick, I lost both of my brothers in their 50s,” he said.
Woodbridge also explained how the attack happened when interviewed by The Herald Sun.
“It was last Thursday, I tried to keep my routine having travelled to the US Open and London and I was just exercising and had chest pains and every symptom when you look up google — full sweats and I felt awful,” he said.
“I had a little heart episode that goes down as a mild heart attack which is a bit of a shock to me.
“And you’re personally still coming to terms with somebody like myself who I consider to lead a pretty good fit healthy lifestyle — I keep active, I eat well, I do all the right things, I enjoy doing that. It’s been a wake up call to me to make sure I look after myself. If it can happen to me it shows that it can happen to anybody.”
Woodbridge said he is now taking it easy, recovering from the attack, but counts himself lucky. He will also continue with medication and regular monitoring.
The attack has prompted him to commit to regular tests with his doctor — and is advising Australian men to do the same.
Woodbridge had recently travelled for his work as a popular tennis television commentator to London for Wimbledon and New York for the US Open.
