I began this post after watching the now epic Wimbledon final of last year between Federer and Nadal. After watching the Australian Open this year and lamenting over yet another Federer loss, the questions remained.
Watching these epic matches, one gets the feeling that there is more to it than meets the eye. That there is something that goes beyond just the visible skill on display. Something that tries to establish a pattern at a level above the spoken and the seen in what happened on both occasions. Something that channelizes the player’s entire capability into those two or three critical moments in the match that can make the difference between winning or losing. Something that sits between the ears - the mind!!
What an astounding piece of machinery this creation is!. Can someone train his mind to react predictably to unpredictable situations?? Does predictably of mind in unpredictable situations help the situation?
This all brings me to why some players are just better than others when it comes to using the head…. The fact that struck me most about the Nadal-Federer final was that Nadal was recouping every time he made an error. On the other hand, Federer was being pushed deeper into his misery after every error he committed. Does the contemporary Nadal have a mind that has higher elasticity and can rebound quicker? (This somehow reminds me of Kinetic Energy Recovery system – KERS ; where the excess kinetic energy generated from braking goes back to providing the extra horsepower to the engine at the discretion of the driver!!)
Again, can the functioning of the mind be separated into two seemingly distinct but interconnected levels – A level of overall comprehension of capability vis-à-vis the competitor and a level of executing the smaller tasks to the intermediate goals better. And most importantly, how quickly is the player able to understand and train the mind to not let the results of one level overwhelm the performance of the other level. On both occasions was Federer slowly but gradually felled by the erratic functionality of his “second level” mind. Does this also probably explain the concept of reacting in the heat of the moment?
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| Fed v Nad |
Can skill ever take on the might of the mind? ( I know this is a cliché simply because ur skill is a very approximate function of the influence the mind wields on it) I am not still entirely sure of answers to all of these questions. Will someone ‘mind’ jumping into the discussion???
i am too high! i could not understand it!! :)
ReplyDeletehey good one...
ReplyDeletehats off to these two greats of tennis... they clearly are ruling the game... and i think Nadal has become such a good player mainly because he has got the opportunity to play with the Federer the Legend.
Again, can the functioning of the mind be separated.........of reacting in the heat of the moment?
ReplyDeleteFor this I can give another comparison man – mostly the white culture is kinda funny they have parallel lives… they tend to live diff lives in their single lives. Mom & dad, wife & kids, work, friends, business friends… there are a lot of parallel tracks, they never let the problems on one track trouble them with the other. This is more emotional, so if they deal with this… so don’t u think they can deal with 2-sets in a match…!!!!??? Wot do u think…?
An yeah… no comments on the KERS
Also why nothing about ur trip - the new year eve one!!!!!
ReplyDeletewrite how u felt wen u did it… wot u felt wen u saw it…
the "it" is figurative...
Vivek: Don't drink so much.
ReplyDeleteArun: Yes, they look to be streets ahead of the rest of the pack. And I think Nadal playing Federer has spurred him on to go back and work on his fitness and game especially on non-clay surfaces
Sara: Interesting one on the white culture.. but wat I was looking at is time and space… Picture this.. You have Federer serving and double-faulting 3 times in a row… What if he has serving normally all the while but is suddenly unable to come to terms with this new challenge he is facing and starts throwing the game away.. Or picture Nadal playing an intensive rally with Federer and has moments when the ball clips the top of the net and falls back into his court in one or two critical moments.. How do they not allow these "second level frustrations" affect their overall performance level is wat I was talking about.
Maybe its an interesting point u make on multi-tasking at the same "level" of the mind.. but how abt multi-tasking at different "levels"?
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ReplyDeleteReally good way of looking at it... :) Still i dont like Nadal.
ReplyDeleteGood post...
ReplyDeleteI think one of the major reasons why Federer lost (will be confirmed if you look at the final analysis) is because of the number of unforced errors he committed.
Federer was playing the match in his mind which is a small space - hence all unforced errors and Nadal had the whole court at his mercy.
Federer had started seeing him lose the match long before he actually lost. It was only his talent that kept him going all through the 5 wonderful sets.
Nadal proved how strong he was - both physically and mentally.
The talented duo gives me a lot of hope for a good tennis viewing year ahead.
Now, that I am sober again, I finally got the article. Nice one. However, the answer to the question of the importance of the mind, is a nice one raised, and has been raised. Anyone following the rivalry, will know how one dimensional the matches tend to be. Hence it is still not considered by many purists, as the greatest rivalry of all times. The matches always have Nadal ripping forehands to Fed's backhand. Federer's arrogance hinders him to accept the fact that he cant beat him from the baseline and hence the reluctance to mix his game up. It is tragic, that a player as skilled as Federer has to fall victim to the human mind.
ReplyDelete