Busted Racquet
Day 16 : A picture of someone who inspires you.
I haven’t been to this blog in a while, I think I almost forgot I had one. It took me a while to come up with a picture of someone who inspires me. I guess for the most part I was just uninspired (cue in sarcastic laughter). No, I guess I just couldn’t think of someone… like a hero or something. I have been detached (like you wouldn’t believe) for the most part of… I can’t even remember when I wasn’t. See?
So, anyway, after a season of heart breaks, of losing in 3 of the 4 grand slam finals (it’s technically 2 since he just made it to the QF of the French Open, but since he lost to Rafa, I’m counting it as a final), I have decided that Djokovic fits the bill.
Tennis, as much as it is a game of strength and strategy, is also a game of guts. It’s you, standing there, all alone. Sometimes, you’re down 5-0 and yet you have to hold your head up and serve for a game that’s obviously lost. Or worse, you’re at the other end, forced to return a blistering serve from an opponent who certainly has your number. It’s just so easy to choke, to just give up and call it a day. And yet you’re there, fighting alone at one side of the court.
That last match vs Nadal at the US Open was brutal. Truth be told, Djokovic was on top of his game. Imagine what it feels like to know that you’re doing everything you have to do, giving everything you’ve got and yet you still lose. But that’s what makes champions. They don’t give up. They take the beating, fight for their life, and get up and say, it will be better tomorrow.
When everything that can go wrong actually does and you're way over your head in shit, it takes a lot of courage to get up and believe that it will be better tomorrow.
I remember one match when I was 12 or 13. The tournament was going really well, until I faced Magnolia. See? I still remember her name. She bageled me, that bitch. (For the uninitiated, bagel in tennis means you didn’t win a set, your opponent won 6-0.) I didn’t want to continue the match, it was the first time I ever l ever lost that bad. For the first time, I was aware that I was alone during a match. It was so scary and I just wanted to go home and cry, but you have to continue and rely on your guts to fight. I lost that match and Magnolia eventually won the gold. And I went on to win my first bronze in tennis.
