Monday, July 09, 2007

Wimbledon: Afterword



If you'd like to read a good report (with great photos) on yesterday's Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, see this one at Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog. I'll highlight some of the points I'd like to comment on.

I remain surprised by how many players don't recognize Raja's tendency to serve flat out wide in the ad court on big points.

It is surprising, isn't it - even pros miss an awful lot of what goes on in the heat of the battle. Andre Agassi once said that people would be surprised to discover how little pros' play has to do with tennis, because they are so busy thinking nothing but, "Win the next point!"

It is the consequence of a noisy mind. Understandable on Centre Court during a Wimbledon final, but still a hindrance.

When your mind is thinking, it automatically distracts your attention inward, onto your thoughts. You WILL then fail to notice things out on the court. All tennis players struggle with this, even the pros.

I think that today's pro players aren't as good at controlling and quieting their minds as past tennis greats were. Why? Simply because they have a crutch = a coach. They expect their coaches to notice these things for them.

Unfortunately, your coach can't tell you that Raja serves flat out wide to the ad court on big points until the match is over. Besides, your coach is an aide, not someone you should depend on to do your observing and thinking for you.

How often does it happen that a player, even at this level, wins an intense tiebreak and drops serve immediately in the next set? I wish I had the stats.

So do I. It's the letdown that occurs in that situation. You must be ready for it, adjust you tactics (not strategy) accordingly, and mentally stoke your fire.

Then Hickman goes on to relate Federer's unravelling to the point that he asks for Hawk-Eye to be turned off. Of course the request was denied, so Federer started sarcastically whining as though Hawk-Eye and Company are "homering" him here in England, in favor of the guy from Spain.

I guess Andy Roddick is in the final, because Raja continues a dialogue with no one in particular, asking after a Rafa shot misses just over the baseline, "How was that one? Was that in?"

An unraveling that has silenced the entire stadium. The fans can barely applaud any of the points won or lost. Raja fights off a deuce after a double fault, and yet another flat serve ace out wide gets him on the scoreboard in the fourth set. Fans, still stunned, applaud tepidly.

Can you blame them? Atta way to take yourself down off that pedestal, Roger: act like a child.

Federer is on the verge of a breakdown, but guess what saves him at that very moment?


Hickman makes the crucial point that the rain delays are what caused unfairness - in Federer's favor, not against him. The rain delays created a final in which Federer was physically and mentally fresh, while Nadal was physically and mentally exhausted. Not fair.

Rafa's mental exhaustion showed through in the tiebreakers, where mental strength is most tested. And his physical exhaustion showed through in this inflammation of the knee injury.

True, this was no deliberate favoritism. But that doesn't make it any less unfair. Wimbledon should do everything possible to make sure that rain can't create such an unfair situation, especially in the finals, ever again.

Do read the rest.

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1 Comments:

At 12:03 PM, Blogger Craig Hickman said...

First of all, thank you for this entry. I am both humbled and honored.

What strikes me about your writing is your focus on the mental. That's where it all happens, no?

I've always been drawn to tennis because it is so much a metaphor for life in so many ways.

"When your mind is thinking, it automatically distracts your attention inward, onto your thoughts. You WILL then fail to notice things out on the court."

This is also the reason why most people struggle in all kinds of relationships. They don't notice what's going on in their relationships for real because they're too busy making decisions based upon the running (confusing and often inaccurate) dialogue going on upstairs. And wanting to "win" interferes with common sense communication and compromise.

Fascinating stuff.

Keep up the good work.

 

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