The U.S. Open hasn’t been kind to the former champ.
Once the unbeatable man on any surface, after coming up short in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open many wonder if Federer will live out the rest of his career in the long shadow of Djokovic.
Who’s to know?
He’s still crushing his way through the ranks, but he’s not winning the tougher physical game, and he’s likely not winning the mental game.
A famous jiu-jitsu competitor told me he knew it was time to quit when he no longer had the will to train like a champ.
His body could still take the grueling punishment, but his head wasn’t in the fight.
In Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama talks of being a broken man after taking a drubbing in his first bid for the U.S. Congress in 2000.
He wrote, “I began feeling the way I imagine an actor or athlete must feel when, after years of commitment to a particular dream…he realizes he’s gone just about as far as talent or fortune will take him.”
Then he stopped sulking like a little girl who dropped her ice-cream and picked himself back up again.
Famously Vince Lombardi said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
What is love without loss and what is success without taking a beating?
To go for what you truly want requires a willingness to keep putting yourself on the line, taking the hits, and coming back stronger.
To take and re-take the crown, you must build the mind of a champ!