Sitting in my apartment, looking at high rise buildings and watching people walking on the streets, I sometimes wonder What is it that motivates people to get up every day and pursue their goals. At times we think life is tough and why it is that we have to endure hardships? Lots of questions pass my mind without any clear answers in sight. As usual, like a habit, I turned towards my favorite sport to seek the answers to the unsolved mysteries of life.
The past two weeks saw a lot in Tennis: Djokovic’s unbelievable comeback after trailing by two match points against Federer, Murray’s continuous ranting during Semi Finals when he lost points, Nadal’s pouring body and heart on every single point in the Finals and Djokovic’s 17 winners in the final set to clinch the US Open title. What a fortnight it was for all of us to revel in the glory or disappointment of our favorite players.
Then came Davis Cup and things took turn for better or worse in very short time; we witnessed - Nadal, Federer all emerged out on top and the person who was on top fell on the court with severe back pain and possibly out from the tennis circuit for next 4-6 weeks.
But one player who stood out for me during all this was Juan Martin Del Potro. Just by looking at him made me go back to the previous question- What is that motivates a player or person to get up every day, practice in and out without fail to achieve his/her goals. Look at him - everything was perfect for him in 2009 when he won US Open defeating Nadal and Federer and claiming his first GS until injury struck him and forced him out for nearly a year. In the past two years, he has seen Nadal winning 3 GS and Djokovic accomplishing a yearlong of achievements which no one had even imagined in their dreams.
I just wonder what made this player fight with his injury and practice every day to make sure he comes back in fine form. There would have been so many doubts in his mind: Will I ever play again, Will I be the same Del Potro again? He suffered early exits in all the GS he played on his comeback. People had high hopes from him and were expecting a lot but he was not able to deliver until now.
It all looks so easy to us sitting here, but imagine, he is like us- he would have also wanted to sleep till 12-1 in the morning, go out and enjoy with friends party every day till its late , eat every possible cake and food and roam around freely. But as I can sense, he chose to forego all of this and maintained his daily schedule , managed to drag himself out of his comfort zone and practice to achieve his goal of returning back to his peak form : 2009 US Open and possibly achieve even more. Amidst all the focus on Top 4, here is a player who has silently taken his country to Davis Cup Finals and possibly could write another golden chapter in tennis like Djokovic did last year. Who knows we might see another Djokovic born in him next year if all goes well in Davis cup for Argentina and Del Potro.
But coming back to my main point- why is it that we are not able to resist temptations in life and succumb to comfort and luxury whereas all these top players who have all the comfort and luxury stick to discipline in their life when they can relax and not sweat it out for hours on and off the court. Can't we do the same? Look at Del Potro, here is a person who is working hard even when all the limelight is on Djokovic/Nadal, not letting his body win over his mind and working it out when he can easily succumb to all the pleasures of life.
Finally, I got the answer I was looking for: It’s all in our mind. Even we can go and give our heart out to achieve our goals but we tend to falter because of lack of determination. No wonder - People who are lazy will not have luxury and people who have luxury will never be lazy!
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