Book 186 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Your toughest opponent is always yourself!

Book – String Theory: On Tennis by David Foster Wallace

Book Description:

Here are David Foster Wallace's legendary writings on tennis, five tour-de-force pieces written with a competitor's insight and a fan's obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a wickedly witty dissection of Tracy Austin's memoir; considers the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the U.S. Open; and recalls his own career as a "near-great" junior player.

Reflection:

I love tennis! I’ve played competitively my whole life, and still do so even as a 37-year-old. I can’t get enough of it, hence why I picked up another book about tennis on this journey. I believe this is officially the 4th entry into this journey now with Andre Agassi’s Biography Open, Brad Gilbert’s Winning Ugly, Timothy Gallway’s Inner Game of Tennis, and now David Foster Wallace’s String Theory. I’m sure there will be more, so stay tuned.

The author’s amazing article on Roger Federer makes me want to go buy another book on that guy and dive into his life more. Just like David Foster Wallace, I’ve always been fascinated by Roger Federer as he is just incredible to watch play this sport. He is a true artist and I’m in constantly in awe watching him seemingly effortlessly glide around a court and use his creativity and imagination to pull off just unfathomably difficult shots with incredible spin, power, and precision. It is poetry in motion.

What I’ve always personally admired most about Federer is his mental strength. It is rare to ever see him beating himself on the court. To the outside viewer, he always appears to be calm, cool, in control, and looks like he is having a blast. I have to feel like this, above all else, is what really makes Roger Federer different than almost every other human on this planet that has ever played this game. He seemingly always knows how to keep his body and mind in harmony and flow to let it all come together in this beautiful symphony of shots we see on the court.

I remember seeing a press conference interview with Roger after the 2019 epic Wimbledon final when he lost to Novak 12-13 in the 5th set that all but proved that his mental harmony is really the source of his superpower on the court in my mind. The match was unreal, one of the best of all time. Federer, who was in the twilight of his career, gave it everything he had. At one point in the epic fifth set, he had Novak on the ropes and had a few match points to win Wimbledon. Somehow Novak fought them off and came back to win. For any “normal” player, this crushing blow would have been devastating to their psyche. Most players would have crumbled, and who can blame them? You are playing for a WIMBLEDON title, in the 5th set of a 4 hour+ match, exhausted, hurting, and you just blew a chance to win against another all-time great in his prime. Roger didn’t crumble, he kept fighting and the match went on for a lot longer even though he eventually still lost later in extended 5th set. At the press conference after when a reporting asked about how this near victory and not pulling it out affected his mindset, Roger said (paraphrasing), “It wasn’t a big deal, if you had asked me at the beginning of the match if I would be happy to be on serve in the fifth set, against Novak, playing for a Wimbledon title at this stage of my career…I’d take that all day.”

THAT is why Roger Federer is Roger Federer. For 99.99% of people in this world, they would have crumbled if this happened to them…not Roger Federer. Unfortunately for him, his opponent (Novak), is also an incredible mental warrior in his own right. They asked Novak a similar question, what was his thoughts on being down match point, the crowd roaring for Roger, and being able to come back to win? Novak said (paraphrasing) “I couldn’t hear the cheers for Roger, I’ll imagined them cheering for me instead and kept pushing”. Novak, created an imaginary universe in his mind to shield himself from the pressures of the situation to lock in and focus and beat the best of all time on his favorite court, in his tennis palace, with a crowd that adores him.

Wow! How can you not be impressed by these 2 masters of their own minds and emotions?

Tennis is such a beautiful game, sport, and metaphor for life in so many ways. There is no more empowering, and simultaneously isolating and lonely feeling, then stepping onto a court against an opponent and knowing that you are about to have to dig really deep, push yourself, and fight if you want to walk off this court a winner. Both Novak and Roger remind me that if you can master your mind, your emotions, and frame your own reality…you can endure almost anything emotion and trial this world throws at you.

You will always be your biggest opponent in any match you play, whether it is the Wimbledon Final, or just some USTA adult league tennis match. Tennis and life are both a battle of wills fought between yourself and yourself. You will fail, everyone does. You will have experience overwhelming emotions, everyone does. You will have mental lapses, everyone does. You will get frustrated, everyone does. You will want to run away and hide sometimes, everyone does.

It is what you do next that makes me love this sport AND life so much. Keep fighting the good fight!

Question: How are you working to master your emotions to not prevent you from bringing your art into this world?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - String Theory: On Tennis by David Foster Wallace