Competitive tennis has so much going for it. Having just physical tools to play the game only gets you so far. It's easy to see this if you look at the professional game and see who wins tournaments. Is it the most powerful player, the one with the 140+ mph serve, with screaming forehands and laser backhands? Nah. Is it the fastest player on the circuit or the one who never quits and grinds out each point? Uh uh.
Most of the time, it's the smartest player or the one who plays best under pressure. Not necessarily the most talented, but one who is relaxed when the game is on the line and is focused mentally. The best players in the world look the same if they are losing or if they're winning. Roger Federer always seems to have a semi-scowl on his face. If you happened to float in front of a TV screen and see his mug while he was playing a match, you'd have a hard time knowing if he was losing or winning. His even keel allows him to keep his emotions in check so he can play each point without fear or anxiety. Yeh, he still loses, especially to that Spaniard dude (who is the quickest and the gutsiest player on the circuit, by the way).
But who has 16 Grand Slam victories, more than any other player? It's not about being the #1 player seed-wise. Ever heard of Carolyn Wozniacki? Yeh, me neither. She's been the #1 women's player for over a year and has yet to win any Grand Slam events. I'm not sure she's even made it to the finals of any Grand Slam tournament. Federer, much like Tiger Woods was in his prime, is all about the big tournaments. Take a look at the French Open this year. Novak Djokovic had beaten Federer at least twice this year and had a 43-match win streak going for him. But mentally Federer just turned up the heat in the French and took out the Serbian in a semi-final thriller. Big stars come to play in big matches. That mental game allows them to ignore the doomsdayers and party-poopers wailing on about how their best days are over. When the big tournies come, they just ramp up the focus a little bit more.
Tennis is a game of inches. It's a game where one point or one game can make all the difference. A few years back, I remember watching Venus Williams hit a down-the-line screamer that was an inch from the baseline on match point AGAINST her at the U.S. Open. What fortitude of will gave her the confidence to hit that shot when missing it meant losing? Wow!
The mental game of tennis rears its head in many ways while playing. Aggressively attacking an opponent's second serve can put enormous pressure on that player. But you have to have the confidence to know you won't just pooch it back to the player for an easy putback. Another example is "going in for the kill" when you are ahead and squashing the opponent. To be able to dominate a match mentally takes guts. It's not ingrained in a player but learned through training and repetition. Have you ever heard the expression "He has a body built for tennis" or "He was born to play tennis"? Neither have I. Great tennis players aren't born with silver tennis rackets in their mouths (ouch!).
Another way to look at this is if tennis was dominated by physical skills, then wouldn't there be more sons or daughters of tennis athletes playing? There are a few examples of siblings being successful (Marat Safin and Dinara Safina - both who got to the #1 ranking - come to mind) but that seems to also be a rare occurrence.
Having said that, I will give you another example that crosses over into another sport. When the match is on-the-line and any one point could be the difference between losing and winning, a person's mental preparedness is the key. I remember a quote from Larry Bird, the Boston Celtics legend, who said he knew of dozens of players in the NBA who could hit a three-point shot, but only a handful who could hit a three when their team needed it to win. Skill only takes you so far. You have to have the mindset that elevates your game beyond all the rest. Every professional tennis player can serve, can keep from double-faulting, can crush a forehand and can hit a backhand. But only a few can do it time-and-again with the match outcome in jeopardy.
And yeh, I guess you know I'm a Federer-lover (how can you not like a guy who plays tennis for 3 hours and doesn't even seem to break a sweat!) and a Nadal-hater. Hate's a strong word. I admire his skill and his speed, but he's really screwing up my whole premise for this post! I just don't think he'll last long enough to pass Federer on the number of Grand Slams. His game is just too physical and it takes a toll on his body. He's already missed some time with injuries and I expect his style of play will have him falling short on the Grand Slams. As Dr. Eldon Tyrell said in the movie "Blade Runner", "The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long".
Oh, and before I forget, I lost 6-4,4-6,6-2 in singles today. I actually had lost to my opponent in straight sets last year, so I played better. Mentally I was on my game and continuously broke him throughout the first 2 sets. I just couldn't hold serve and by the last set I was just spent. I will blame it on the 95-degree Georgia heat and not on the extra tub of lard I'm carrying around on my frontage. So, although I didn't win, I thought I played well and was in a much better frame of mind with him than in the past. As they say, "Baby steps".
However, I did win in doubles. My partner and I took out the #1-seeded team. The mental problem with doubles is that I always hear the line "Let's go out there and just have some fun". That is the death knell of the mental game. Relaxing and having fun is anathema to winning. But after a grueling singles match (my partner and I both played in 3 1/2 hour marathon matches) doubles does tend to be less mental. This translates to more errors and less crisp play, but I dare say it was "fun" to beat the #1 team, even with losing the second set 6-1. Final score: 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Weirdness prevails.
OK, I just got a hold of Walter Kronkite. Walt, wherever you are, take it from here: "“And that’s the way it is – June 11, 2011. This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News; Good Night.”
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