Por Jorge
Manuel Zelaya Fajardo
www.jorgemanuelzelaya.com
May 2nd, 2019
The title of this post can be somewhat misleading, particularly if you
are familiar with the study method of universities in the United States, since
the numerical suffix 101 is used to describe an introductory course of a
subject at the beginner´s level (for
example, Physics 101, Administration 101 and others similar). In this
case, the suffix is precisely the opposite.
Roger Federer, the Swiss tennis player born on August 8th, 1981, is
considered by many experts to be the greatest tennis player of all time. The
truth is that the numbers (accurate
summary of their results on the court) behind Federer are prodigiously
overwhelming: 20 grand slams (series of
four supreme professional tennis events that are played annually at the
Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and United States Open) placing him
as the only male player in history to achieve it. In the same way, he is the
only one in history to hold the #1 position as a tennis player in the world of
the ATP (historical world record
maintained for 310 consecutive weeks).
However, the number that catches our attention this time is the 101, because
Sunday afternoon on March 31st, 2019,Federer beat the Jon Isner, an
American tennis player, in the final of
the Miami Open, to achieve his 101st trophy as champion, almost 20
years after winning his first title in Milan at age 19, when he was ranked 27th in the world. It really is
almost unrealistic to think that a human being can win 101 champion trophies of
a tennis tournament (only the tennis
player Jimmy Connors surpasses him with 8 more tournament trophies). They
are not medals or participant ribbons, it is a trophy as the best of all in
said event.
Winning 101 champion trophies of anything is a subject of extreme
relevance. It makes us think from the deep to the superficial. The questions that
arise are: How can a human being earn
more than a hundred high-level global professional competencies during almost
20 years of career in a consistent manner? Where do you keep the trophies? What
attitude does this man have when a tournament starts? How and how much does he
train? Is his success pure natural talent that only he has? What sets him apart
from the others? What habits do you have to achieve such an epic feat? Will he
be able to beat the record of tennis player Jim Connors at 40 years of age?
The truth is that the answers, although not easy, they are simple. For
many years I have studied the behavior of Roger Federer, both on and off the
pitch, due to my passion for the white sport.
Roger Federer is a champion because he has worked to be one. Possessing
an out-of-context natural talent, he has never settled for what nature has
given him. Very early, he understood that his bad temper on the court at the
beginning of his career (much like that
of John McEnroe in the 80s) should change if he wanted to be the best
version of himself. He started a plan, executed it and reached his goal. His
way of behaving like a fierce predator on the court counteracts with his
humility in words and emotional expressions after several finals. There is no
one who can say, upon seeing Federer enter a Wimbledon final, that his body language
shouts out loud that he will be the winner, even without having touched the
ball. His elegance, candor and sense of humor seem to distract us from his
relentless focus on goals, results and thirst to win. His passion for
continuous improvement and his high emotional intelligence in decisive sets,
make him very different. His grace, consistency and the way he dominates
volleys, returns, and lost balls is unmatched. However, perhaps the greatest
learning of the 101 trophies won by Federer is his mental strength expressed in
another number: 52. The number 52, is the number of times
that Federer has lost a final of a tournament. That is, several times he has
returned home without reaching his goal. He has lost big time. He has had the
trophy near, but he has not obtained it. He has suffered in silence and in
public. His results are impressive, but without a doubt what is most impressive
is that he has achieved them with sui generis mix of attitude, system and
aptitude. Three lessons that we can apply in our own tournaments are not
necessarily sport-related.
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