Wimbledon Weekend
Monday, July 04, 2005
What a great weekend of tennis. Got to watch Venus's comeback and the magnifigance that is Roger Federer.
Some athletes have just re-defined the way we view sports (just like how HDTV will). My generation has been lucky to have known the likes of Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods and Steffi Graf in their prime. Now we meet Roger Federer, who I think will have the same effect as these athletes before him.
He's elegant, classy, flawless etc. In fact he reminds me of well...me : ). Just teasin. But there are similarities.
I was never very good at one specific thing on the soccer pitch, but instead I did a lot of things very well. I was never the best header or goal scorer, I was never the fastest player, or most techinically skilled player. I was never the fittest player or strongest player. But I would probably be in the top three of most if not all of those categories. And more importantly I was able to master the mental aspect of the game. I was a thinker first, player second. I could read the game very well and that I think came from watchng a lot of soccer. I was never in a situation when I thought an opponent was better than me. I had a lot of confidence when I played and I never made myself an opponent.
I like that about Roger. He does a lot of things very well.
He doesn't have the fastest serve, but it is a weapon not a weakness.
He can hit winners from either side but he's not the hardest hitter on tour.
He can play great defense...but he is no Hewitt or Agassi
And where is he the best:
The mental game...he is so cool, calm and he understands when a point needs to be won. This is so important in tennis, when a few points mean the difference between winning a set and losing a set.
And then there are the intangibles:
He loves the game
He is a naturally gifted athlete
He can take what you think are your strengths and then counterpunch those strengths destroying you and your confidence.
Keep it up Roger...finally another gift to sports fans!
posted by aforward @ 11:46 AM,
1 Comments:
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At 12:35 AM,
royassaly said...
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I love players that can outsmart the "brute force" athletes. I'm obviously not the tallest player, but I can hold my own in Volleyball. Although, I still have a lot to learn about the mental part.
One thing I learned though. It is absolutely key to understand when to yell out a cheer, and when to simply move along. Trying to crush the confidence of your opponent is always a goal I seek since I need all the help I can get :-)
There is so much theory to the mental part of sport.
