Being Great

What makes someone better than someone else is a huge subject that has endless possibilities and factors that if arranged in a certain combination or occurrence can produce amazing results. When we talk about the tennis greats from the past like Rod Laver, Billie Jean King and Bjorn Borg, to name but a few, at each point within their tennis journey they would have faced similar challenges to those greats of today like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.

Being great isn’t easy and there are some special ingredients that will determine the outcome.

The first is that there is no replacement for hard work. Malcolm Gladwell, the Canadian journalist / author, popularised the theory of 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve greatness in a profession. He came to this conclusion after studying the lives of extremely successful people to find out how they achieved success.

I think what is most important for us to understand is not the number of hours, although very significant, but that the deliberate practice within these hours were of high quality, high focus and periods of continual feedback and analysis. They are not just going through the motions and a lot of this time won’t be fun and easy going. To withstand this type of work day in and day out over all those years can only lead one to admire that individuals character.

Not everyone can be an international tennis player and most were struck off this list before birth! Having great genetics is extremely important, so if you are lucky to inherit good genes then you must be thankful to your parents J. At school there were always kids who were the best at most sports because of the natural qualities they possessed. A lot of young tennis players are good because they have played a lot more than someone who is new to the sport, which can make them look far better in the short term.

From my experience, if you find a child who is a great athlete and had come from a large sports background before the age of 10, then this person has far more potential for the future than someone who is not as athletic but has played loads from a very young age. Obviously there is a mental element to this, but if their competitiveness was on a level par then the athlete will come through eventually.

Great people have a great team and it is the team’s guidance, experience, knowledge and expertise that can influence the direction of the player. It is no coincidence that a lot of parents are on the tour with their children as they are the people that know their child the best as people and a lot of what they have become has come from their parents. In the pro world, players like Andy Murray have an entourage of people from fitness coaches to physio to hitting partners, to tennis coach, to management team, all working together to help Andy Murray be a huge success.

Creating a balance and unity among that team is the tricky part with everyone having their opinion and motives.

Ultimately they are only there because of the player, so as long as the player’s interests are number 1, then the athlete can focus on their job.

Many successful people are givers. Typically we assume that by putting other people first we compromise ourselves for other people’s success but this isn’t always the case. Professionals have to be selective as to when they put themselves or others first as there are times when they must look after themselves but the character of a giver and someone who wants to help is a nice personal quality which will not only attract people who want to help them but also make them more endearing to the public.

Would you say Federer is a selfish man? Public perception would disagree but Federer balances his media and tennis commitments very well and his persona is very much a reflection of this.

What I have discussed in this article isn’t new to most people but it hopefully goes towards highlighting some influential areas of what makes a great tennis player. A lot of the factors can be applied into other areas e.g. business, music etc. so don’t be disheartened if you think you’re not going to be the next Roger Federer!

Everyone can learn from greatness and can apply some of the qualities to be better in what they do. Not everyone has 10,000 to develop this but if you are to devote the time you have available to working hard with high focus, consider the tasks you take on based on your natural gifts, pick a great team of people around you and help others, then it would be unimaginable that this combination wouldn’t lead to success!