Choking, and Hedging my Bets

I spent my early Sunday afternoon watching the Madrid Masters 1000 final between the top two players in the world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. As it was on the red clay, in Spain, Nadal was the favorite. It was the first time these two had met in exactly one year as Federer had beaten Nadal in the 2009 Madrid final.

What did I learn? Nadal is good, really good. The best I have ever seen on clay. Better than Bjorn Borg. His defense is amazing, the spin is back on his FH, and his BH pass was electric when he needed it. Yet for all that, Federer was on the verge of taking the second set tiebreak. He was up 4-2 when disaster struck. Four straight unforced errors, a winner, then a whiff on a bad bounce to his FH.

As I just began trying to compete again myself after a number of years, I most certainly recognized the choking. On the edge of accomplishing something(a win over Rafa) that he really wanted, the body tightened up and the errors came quick. Of course, when I am trying to play I am not even close to making the shots I make in practice. It's like some alien has invaded my body and is missing shots I would never miss! On the bright side, choking is just one step away from success. As we become adjusted to the situations the score dictates, the body tends to relax a bit and produce more recognizable tennis. At least I hope this happens soon!

Oh, and my previous post about the demise of Federer? I retract that 100%. He is stil capable of producing the most beautiful tennis in the world, even against the best clay court player playing in his home country. Federer will remain a Grand Slam title contender until physically unable.