|
Home::Tennis
Tennis Champions: Are They Born? Or Made?
Author : Chris Lewis
John Newcombe, former world tennis No 1 and former Australian Davis Cup captain, once said that the top Australian players of his era believed that it was their destiny to become tennis champions.
Boris Becker told me that two weeks before achieving his first Wimbledon title (in 1985 when seventeen years old), he felt as if it were predetermined.
As a seventeen year old, Ivan Lendl, who, prior to Pete Sampras, held the No 1 spot longer than any other player in history, was convinced that he would turn himself into the best player in the world. He would even tell you so.
When asked by the media about his chances of winning his first US Open title (in 1975), Jimmy Connors' response was: "There are 127 losers in the draw -- and me!"
Jimmy won.
What these former greats had in common was an unshakeable certainty that they would win. It is a trait that is shared by all top sports people.
But a question that has always fascinated me is: Are such champions born, or are they made?
Were Newccombe, Becker, Lendl and Connors born to rule the tennis world? Or did they become champions because of the choices they made? Was their success predetermined, as suggested by Newcombe and Becker? Or was it a result of a single-minded dedication to making themselves the very best, as implied by Lendl and Connors?
Are champions a product of nature? Or of nurture?
To be a true champion at tennis or any other sport requires very special qualities. These qualities or attributes can be divided into two categories -- the physical and the mental. It is my contention that physical attributes are predominantly a product of chance. They are determined genetically.
For instance, some people are born with a body structure conducive to speed, others to strength, and so on. In this sense, a very large proportion of the population are excluded, from birth, from ever winning an Olympic gold medal as a sprinter or a weightlifter.
It is the same with tennis. The physical attributes that are required to become a champion player are such things as good hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, and leg-speed. Without question, these attributes can be developed to their fullest potential with hard work and effective training methods.
But most people are excluded from becoming the best tennis player in the world, no matter how much time they spend attempting to reach their physical ceiling of potential.
Does this mean, then, that champions are born? Were Newcombe, Becker, Lendl and Connors so physically superior to everyone else that becoming the best was just a mere formality?
Certainly not. All four were exceptionally gifted physically, but in my view, there were other players of the same eras who were more gifted than they were.
What separated them from everyone else were their mental attributes: their will to win, their determination, their perseverance, their ability to remain calm under presuure, their ability to bounce back from disappointments, and the belief that they deserved to win -- all attributes that not one of us is born with, but that each one of us has the power to develop. The only choice is whether we want to or not.
It is in this sense that, given the necessary or essential physical attributes as a starting point, all champions are not only made -- they are self-made.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Copyright 2006 -- Chris Lewis is a former No 1 ranked junior tennis player in the world and Wimbledon finalist in 1983. During his playing career, his coaches were Harry Hopman and Tony Roche. To read more of Chris's tennis articles and tennis tips, please visit his website at Expert Tennis Tips.
Spam emails More free articles Related articles
|
More related feeds |
Born and Made
As a true tennis fan, I'd like to think that these champions were born, that they had this destiny and that it was "meant to be". But if you look at most players and at their development, you realize that these champions were made for ...GOTOTENNIS: TOP TENNIS: A REVIEW OF THE 2008 SEASON
Tsonga's obvious charms added to the fantastic late-night atmosphere, as the crowd realized that they weren't only seeing an upset, they were witnessing a future champion's first steps towards greatness. Gasquet vs. ... daddyBstrong: Barack Obama's historic march to the presidency
Pro tennis champion Serena Williams (pictured with Kenya’s education minister Sam Ongeri) cuts the ribbon at the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya on Friday afternoon. This school was built through a partnership ... The Morning After: November 22, 2008 « Sparty & Friends
The Knicks made their moves to open up cap space for everyone’s favorite free agency period of 2010. First, they sent Jamal Crawford to the Warriors for Al Harrington, and then moved Zach Randolph to the Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and ... One More Dying Quail: Heroes And Goats: Players Who Made The Last ...
Unless I made a mistake somewhere, this was the first time two future Hall of Famers met in the final at-bat of a World Series. Red Ruffing and Billy Herman squared off ten years later, the only other instance I found. ... ADT Championship Day two- The Carnage (Wizbang Sports)
Angela Park was born in Brazil. If Natalie Gulbis was around and got paired with Angela on Sunday, her winning the one million dollar grand prize would be all but certain. Gulbis played with Granada and Ochoa on Sunday when they won. ... Elena Dementieva….model of Consistency. « Tennis Tennis Tennis ...
In some ways they are all a part of one happy family of talented Russian players who between them made a grand sweep of the tennis medals in Beijing, but on court in the 2009 Australian Open all the family ties and friendships will be ... Watertown Daily Times Online - Obituaries
She was born May 28, 1930, in Milwaukee , daughter of the late Fred and Izola (Beck) Schneider. Dolly married Charles Moser Jr. on Aug. 28, 1948, in Milwaukee. They would have celebrated 60 wonderful years in just two weeks. ... Eyes On The Prize: 33 Things You Might Not Know About Patrick Roy
They met the Toronto Maple Leafs in the semi-finals, and made short work of the Leafs, eliminating them in four straight games. Meanwhile, Detroit and Chicago met to decide who would challenge Montreal for the Stanley Cup. ... Hatton v Maliganngi + Prizefighter - welshie1 Blog
Celestino Caballero (30-2, 21 KO’s) comes in to the fight as the WBA champion and in the boxrec.com rankings he’s one position ahead of Molitor in 3rd. He’s made seven successful title defences of his WBA crown and has not lost a fight ...
|
|
|
