Wimbledon winner is perseverance and hard work
bythemethod | July 7, 2008Overview
What an exciting men’s final to the tennis yesterday. Five sets fought to the very extreme. How does anyone win in such a game? I will tell you what I think.
Introduction
Every now and then we witness a sporting battle between two great sportspeople. The battle is hard fought and the victory would be deserved by either and yet in the end there can only be one winner.
We sometimes wrongly assume as we sit on our padded sofa supping our cup of coffee that these people are so talented that with just a little effort they perform in a great way. We assume – wrongly – that this comes easily to them and that somehow they are different from the rest of us who struggle to do anything.
We might even wishfully say to ourselves that if only we had their talent we could do the same.
Wake-up Call
However the truth is that most of what they achieve is done not through talent but through hard work and prolonged effort. Talent may get you started on some sporting endeavour but it will not take you all the way.
The truth is that sportspeople sweat just like the rest of us. They feel pain just like the rest of us. They suffer with the same mental anquish that the rest of us do.
It’s also true to say that sports people usually start in the same place that the rest of us did. When they were a child somebody gave them a chance at a sport and they enjoyed it and showed some apptitude for it. Then over the years that apptitude has been shaped until they reach the point where they can start to win.
Did Federer and Nadal every miss a ball? You bet they did – they even did it in the final. Did they ever feel like giving up and getting a regular kind of life? Of course they did.
Conclusions
So what makes them so different from the rest of us?
Hard work, self discipline, dedication, commitment, persistance.
Now not everyone who plays tennis and does all these things will win Wimbledon but I can guarantee that nobody will win Wimbledon without them.
If you want to succeed in life then these are just the kinds of qualities that you will need to make use of. So stop complaining that you lacked the opportunities and start working hard to make them. When the breaks come you had better be prepared to use them.
