Australian surfer Mick Fanning is set to take a sabbatical from competition after a year marred by personal tragedy.
Fanning lost his brother, his marriage and famously survived a shark attack in South Africa in 2015 and is taking a break to "re-stoke the fire".
The 34-year-old will compete at Snapper Rocks and Bells Beach in the World Surfing League before taking an indefinite break.
"Last year was definitely intense – what happened at J-Bay, being in a title race and the unfortunate passing of my brother," Fanning told ninemsn.com.
"There was so much build up with everything happening. I got to a point at the end of the year where I felt empty.
"I didn't feel like I had much to give back. This year I'm going to take some time off and have a bit of a personal year. Just to regroup and re-stoke the fire."
The triple world champion was attacked by a great white shark in July before his brother passed away in December while he was competing in the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii.
He was narrowly beaten to the world title by Adrian de Souza in that competition, losing in the semifinals.
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