Roland Garros: 3 Life lessons I learned from Tennis
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to tick off one of the things on my bucket list. I traveled to Paris and watched Roland Garros (French Open) live. Tennis holds a very special place in my heart. I started playing it in third grade. Since then, my love for playing the sport has only grown further. I still remember how I used to cry in my room when my tennis class got canceled during the rainy season (monsoons). Even today, my heart lights up at the thought of playing tennis. It is the closest thing to love that I've ever experienced in my life.
I went to Roland Garros for two days and witnessed mainly second and third round matches. I had the seats for the Court Philipe Chatrier on day 5 where I watched Gael Monfils and Stanislas Wawrinka win in straight sets. On day 6, I had the tickets for Court 1 where I saw Dimitrov lose to a Spaniard, Carreno Busta in straight sets and Dominic Thiem advance to the next round past Steve Johnson. I also saw Kuznetsova win against the 32nd seed, Zhang in a thoroughly entertaining 3 setter. The tickets also included access to all other smaller courts and I saw several matches in parts there as well. Some key matches that I witnessed were Berdych vs Khachanov, Isner vs Lorenzi, Sania Mirza in the second round of mixed doubles, Samantha Stosur vs Mattek Sands and Caroline Wozniacki vs Bellis.
As I saw these matches and witnessed the twists and turns in each of these matches, I was able to resonate with each of them. The joy of hitting a nearly impossible shot and the shock when you're at the receiving end of the same. The disappointment of an unforced error, the anger of not being able to execute something the way you want, the joy of victory and the tears of defeat. I remembered how I went through each and every one of those emotions when I went for tournaments as a teenager and as I saw all these amazing players put up amazing performances one after another, I was able to imagine quite vividly what each player must be going through on each side of the court.
Thinking about that trip retrospectively made me realize that all these emotions are still an integral part of me. I realized that beyond the skill of playing the game, there are a lot of things that tennis has taught me. It has given shape to my personality in a lot of ways. Hence, in this post, I'm going to write about 3 things in life that tennis taught me.
Rome wasn't built in a day and learning tennis and playing it well takes a really long time. Tennis taught me to have patience with things that are worth it and stick with them through thick and thin. Things will not always be good but persistence pays off. Nadal in this Roland Garros is a prime example of this. His game had dropped a lot in the past few years but his persistence paid off and he came back to win his 10th Roland Garros title. He was virtually unbeatable in this tournament and didn't even drop a set.
There is nothing (or nobody) in the world you will truly love that will bring joy to you at all times. Those things (or people) will also bring you pain and sadness at times. They won't live up to your expectations on a lot of occasions. It's all about sticking with them at all times if you want to reap the real benefits. This has helped me through a lot of bad phases in my personal, academic and professional life. I can honestly say that it has made me a stronger person in life. This is the first lesson that tennis taught me.
As everyone cheered for Kuznetsova who was clearly a crowd favorite, I could sense that everyone's hearts also went out for the brave fight put up by Zhang. I saw Zhang's face and I could almost feel that pain as I recalled one of the matches I lost in a similar way. It's the worst feeling when you've given everything you possibly could have and you still fall marginally short of what was needed. It rips your heart into shreds. All professional players face it multiple times in their careers. It's all part and parcel of the game.
Despite all this, they find a way to get back up, dust themselves off and get on with it, only to fight another day. I learned it the hard way too, by losing when I was inches away from wins. In the end, it made me strong enough to face a lot of troubles in my life. During the last year of my engineering in India, I was rejected by more than 20 firms for a job before I got hired. Each day that I went back home after a rejection, I found a way to move past it and prepare for the next one. Tennis taught me to accept failure, learn from it and move past it.
Sometimes, the difference between making it over the line and falling short of the line is in the mental strength of a person. It's this psychological strength that separates out the champions from the rest of the pack. During crunch times, it's only those that hold their nerves that manage through and in big tournaments, nerves of players are truly tested. I could never rest properly the night before a tennis tournament was about to start. My body would stiffen up and my shoulders wouldn't move freely during practice.
This is one lesson that one can never learn completely. There will be times you'll be the one who manages to hold their nerves but there will also be times when you will be the one who broke down too soon. I'm still working on this a lot too. However, I have gotten better at it over time. I took a course, Abstract Algebra, and it was so difficult, I was almost on the verge of giving up and accepting the fact that I'll probably fail in that course. Somehow, I was able to keep my head up, put in extra hours and pass it with a B grade. Even at work, I face situations when I feel like giving up but that's not an option. I just try to calm my nerves down, find a way to just push myself for a few more hours and get things done.
I went to Roland Garros for two days and witnessed mainly second and third round matches. I had the seats for the Court Philipe Chatrier on day 5 where I watched Gael Monfils and Stanislas Wawrinka win in straight sets. On day 6, I had the tickets for Court 1 where I saw Dimitrov lose to a Spaniard, Carreno Busta in straight sets and Dominic Thiem advance to the next round past Steve Johnson. I also saw Kuznetsova win against the 32nd seed, Zhang in a thoroughly entertaining 3 setter. The tickets also included access to all other smaller courts and I saw several matches in parts there as well. Some key matches that I witnessed were Berdych vs Khachanov, Isner vs Lorenzi, Sania Mirza in the second round of mixed doubles, Samantha Stosur vs Mattek Sands and Caroline Wozniacki vs Bellis.
As I saw these matches and witnessed the twists and turns in each of these matches, I was able to resonate with each of them. The joy of hitting a nearly impossible shot and the shock when you're at the receiving end of the same. The disappointment of an unforced error, the anger of not being able to execute something the way you want, the joy of victory and the tears of defeat. I remembered how I went through each and every one of those emotions when I went for tournaments as a teenager and as I saw all these amazing players put up amazing performances one after another, I was able to imagine quite vividly what each player must be going through on each side of the court.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Good things take time and patience.
This is the first lesson that tennis teaches anyone who has ever tried playing it. The learning curve for tennis is incredibly gradual. It takes you months and years of regular training regularly if you wish to learn how to play it with the right technique. In addition, it is quite common for players to develop certain habits that are wrong and can harm their game in the long run - little things like not putting the body weight into the shot, running for shots with the racket in one hand instead of both or serving in a way that doesn't give you enough punch.Rome wasn't built in a day and learning tennis and playing it well takes a really long time. Tennis taught me to have patience with things that are worth it and stick with them through thick and thin. Things will not always be good but persistence pays off. Nadal in this Roland Garros is a prime example of this. His game had dropped a lot in the past few years but his persistence paid off and he came back to win his 10th Roland Garros title. He was virtually unbeatable in this tournament and didn't even drop a set.
There is nothing (or nobody) in the world you will truly love that will bring joy to you at all times. Those things (or people) will also bring you pain and sadness at times. They won't live up to your expectations on a lot of occasions. It's all about sticking with them at all times if you want to reap the real benefits. This has helped me through a lot of bad phases in my personal, academic and professional life. I can honestly say that it has made me a stronger person in life. This is the first lesson that tennis taught me.
Sometimes, your best will not be enough. You will fall, not once but again and again.
This is the most bitter lessons of them all. No matter how much effort you put in, sometimes it just will not be enough. One of the most interesting matches I saw during my time in Paris was Kuznetsova vs Zhang. Kuznetsova managed to win the first set with a very thin margin but Zhang was playing really well. You could tell that she was feeling the court well. She came back to win the second set. Even in the third set, Zhang clawed back from 3-0 down to level the set at 5-5 before Kuznetsova finally got the better of her.As everyone cheered for Kuznetsova who was clearly a crowd favorite, I could sense that everyone's hearts also went out for the brave fight put up by Zhang. I saw Zhang's face and I could almost feel that pain as I recalled one of the matches I lost in a similar way. It's the worst feeling when you've given everything you possibly could have and you still fall marginally short of what was needed. It rips your heart into shreds. All professional players face it multiple times in their careers. It's all part and parcel of the game.
Despite all this, they find a way to get back up, dust themselves off and get on with it, only to fight another day. I learned it the hard way too, by losing when I was inches away from wins. In the end, it made me strong enough to face a lot of troubles in my life. During the last year of my engineering in India, I was rejected by more than 20 firms for a job before I got hired. Each day that I went back home after a rejection, I found a way to move past it and prepare for the next one. Tennis taught me to accept failure, learn from it and move past it.
Hold your nerves. Sometimes, the difference is only in the mind.
While the previous message is the most bitter one, this is the one that's the most difficult to learn and practice. This year's Roland Garros witnessed a lot of matches wherein players were forced to dig in really dip to get through. Djokovic went through an intense 5 setter in his third round. He was 2 sets to 1 down and had to really muster up all his mental strength to win the next two and get through to the next round. One player that I really admire for his mental strength has to be the Swiss finalist of this year, Stanislas Wawrinka. He always points to his brain whenever he looks at his box after a win or a crucial point. It's exactly his mental ability to stay strong that has got him through a lot of difficult situations. The Roland Garros final of 2015 against Djokovic and this year's semi-final against Murray are just 2 of the examples from Paris.Sometimes, the difference between making it over the line and falling short of the line is in the mental strength of a person. It's this psychological strength that separates out the champions from the rest of the pack. During crunch times, it's only those that hold their nerves that manage through and in big tournaments, nerves of players are truly tested. I could never rest properly the night before a tennis tournament was about to start. My body would stiffen up and my shoulders wouldn't move freely during practice.
This is one lesson that one can never learn completely. There will be times you'll be the one who manages to hold their nerves but there will also be times when you will be the one who broke down too soon. I'm still working on this a lot too. However, I have gotten better at it over time. I took a course, Abstract Algebra, and it was so difficult, I was almost on the verge of giving up and accepting the fact that I'll probably fail in that course. Somehow, I was able to keep my head up, put in extra hours and pass it with a B grade. Even at work, I face situations when I feel like giving up but that's not an option. I just try to calm my nerves down, find a way to just push myself for a few more hours and get things done.
So these were the 3 lessons that I wanted to share with you guys. I hope you liked the post. Feel free to leave your views in the comments section.
P.S. - There are more pictures on my Instagram account from my time in Paris. Do check them out on @sushi2392.
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