The Australian Tennis Open, The Grand slam of Asia/Pacific was concluded on Sunday with 8th ranked Stanislas Wawrinki being crowned the winner. Stanislas defeated No. 1 Rafael Nadal, winner of 17 grand slam titles. Although he lost, this match was an exceptional victory of courage, grit, determination and unwillingness to give up under extreme painful physical conditions by Nadal.
28-tear-old Swiss Stanislas Wawrinki, the acknowledged underdog, played flawlessly in the first two sets winning 6-3, 6-2. Half way through the 2nd set, Nadal bent over with back pain. It was apparent he couldn’t move and was given treatment off the court. While Nadal’s treatments were being applied, Wawrinki became upset with the excess time, in violation of the medical time allowed, that Rafa took in getting back to the court.
Wawrinki sat in his chair and continued an animated conversation with the chair umpire wanting to know what Nadal’s problem was. In the few minutes that the conversation lasted, Wawrinki’s mental state changed. Instead of staying “in the zone” he was thinking about and focusing on his opponent’s physical condition.
In the 3rd set, Nadal began to move better due to his treatments and painkillers. Wawrinki apparently was still focused on Nadal as his game began to deteriorate. Nadal won the 3rd set 6-3. The momentum that Stanislas had was gone.
In the 4th set, Wawrinski cleared his mind and gained momentum. He won the set at 6-3, closing out the match with the final game at love. Rafael Nadal had given a magnificent show of athletic spirit by refusing to give in to his pain and his opponent.
Do you lose your momentum when you play?
It’s important to have a strategy and to stick with it. There are many, many distractions and interferences in a round of golf. While you cannot control the distractions outside of you, you can control what you think and feel about them.
When you are distracted, remember to always bring your focus back to your game plan and to release all thoughts that do not augment it. Release the interfering thought/emotion by taking a deep breath. Refocus by thinking about what you need to do to create your next shot.
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