wtnss:
Djokovic > Federer
In Federer’s hometown no less.
I’ve been a big fan of Novak Djokovic since Wimbledon 2007. Even though he retired in semifinals when he had a chance of beating Rafa Nadal, the game that got him there was an eye-opener for me. He played and beat Marcos Baghdatis by 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5 in a five hour game. For those of you that don’t know much about tennis, that’s a very long game and since I was living in England at the time and freelancing from home I got to see it in it’s entirety.
The game was incredibly exciting with Djokovic winning the first two sets, then Baghdatis catching up and tying the game and Djokovic just managing to get the break and taking the last set. It was a physically intense game but more importantly, it was a mentally intense game for both players. Being down 2-0 in a best to 3 and tying the game to two is very hard because, as a player, not only do you have to lift your own morale and convince yourself that you can win, but you must somehow do it when your opponent is in the proverbial zone. The reverse is worse though, when you’re comfortably winning a game and your opponent manages to catch up. For your opponent, tying the game is a huge morale boost while you get that i-can’t-believe-i’m-going-to-loose feeling and every silly mistake makes you doubt yourself. Baghdatis managed the first feat and Djokovic managed to overcome the second one.
This game showed me what made these two players different from themselves and from all the other players in the lower rankings: mental strength. At the end of the day, the game was more about who could keep it together than it was about their technical ability. To me, it demonstrated what it took to be a high-ranking professional tennis player, and I think it applies to more that just tennis or any sport for that matter.
I was diagnosed with ADD when I was younger (even writing something as trivial as this blog post requires a huge effort from my part) and that game made me realize that if I was to ever accomplish anything significant I would have to find a way acquire that mental strength. As odd as it sounds, that’s what I got out of that tennis game and that’s why that game is so significant to me. Djokovic is a constant reminder of my goal and what I want to achieve.
