A Kind of Magic

Roger Rasheed quit as Lleyton Hewitt's coach, saying the pair can no longer work together after Lleyton threw a temper tantrum in the lockeroom.

Yeah, so what? You already knew that, didn't you? The point is, Why is anyone surprised?

For those of you a little too young and a little too old to know what a temper tantrum is, I note that it is a device a three-year-old uses to operate the Mother Object, simply by making Mother's world pure hail till Mama does whatever the big baby wants.

Not exactly rocket science.

That's why Baby's tantrum flips on and off like a light switch. Tantrum on, tantrum off. Just like that.

Then you have to find a new coach.

What magic playing Pretend does. While pretending you're special, you actually believe it. But magic comes, and magic goes. Magic comes when you've got others believing what they see of you there in the Looking Glass, that you're special, a cut above the rest, that you will make any shot you try, however unwise.

But when they see you have feet of clay, the magic goes, because you can't just psyche them out anymore. And then, of course, you can't psyche yourself up into the stratosphere anymore. So, then you really do have to be better than them on any given day to beat them.

Confidence based on illusion/delusion is a shaky thing. It's just a kind of magic that comes and goes.

To be more than a flash in the pan, you have to practice just as hard, work just as hard, and have the total dedication all the mere mortals you're competing against do. This year, we'll probably see whether Lleyton is up to it or not.