Jesse Mendes is now on the WSL’s live broadcast team. Photo: WSL
Jesse Mendes’ transition out of professional surfing was abrupt – he walked away from competition at just 31 years old. While he’s touched on that decision with us before, he recently offered a more detailed explanation during an appearance on the Brazilian podcast Fala Papah.
Mendes won the Triple Crown in 2018 and spent two seasons on the Championship Tour. But according to him, the World Surf League’s shift to the Challenger Series format expedited his exit.
At the time, he was living in Hawaii with his fiancée, Tatiana Weston-Webb, but was suddenly forced to travel back to Brazil to surf low-level regional events with prize purses that didn’t come close to covering his costs.
“After the tour changed to the regional system, it didn’t work for me,” Mendes told host Ader Oliveira. “When you reach a level that you’ve worked hard for 10 years to get to and you have to go back to lower-level events that don’t pay, I don’t think that’s fair.”
Mendes says he wasn’t alone. He pointed to Tanner and Pat Gudauskas, Tomas Hermes, and Willian Cardoso, among others, as pros who similarly stepped away from competitive surfing around that time.
“To qualify for the Challengers you had to compete. And at the time, right in the middle of the transition, there weren’t any 5,000-point events,” Mendes explained. “The events were all 1,000s. You’d make the quarterfinals and earn $100, while paying $200 just for registration – not to mention accommodation and everything else.”
“I was living in Hawaii and traveling to Brazil,” he added. “It was madness. I said, ‘I’m out. I’ve already lived my dream.’”
During that period, Mendes had switched his nationality from Brazil to Italy, leveraging his Italian heritage in hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics. But even that goal wasn’t enough to keep him motivated.
“I was already discouraged with the tour, and I thought, ‘I’m going to take someone’s spot from trying out for Italy? That’s messed up,’” he said. “Let someone else try their luck. I wasn’t really into it.”
Since retiring, Mendes’ adjustment to life after competition has been smoother than most. He’s landed work on the WSL broadcast team – impressively announcing in his second language – and appears content with the path he’s chosen. He’s also expecting his first child with Weston-Webb.
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