"Your playing hand has just been taped because of blisters, it's bleeding and paining. "
What will you do if you will have to go out and serve?
Probably you will still be feeling that pain and not able to play with full force or maybe play at your 50% potential.
That's what generally majority of the players would have done. But this scenario did not happen today. Instead three aces were dished out consecutively. How did this happen?
This is because the player in question was none other than Rafael Nadal. A blistering hand, stunning shotmaking from his opponent and trailing behind 2-4 in the second set and 4-5 in the third set, still Rafael Nadal was able to ease his way out of the match in straight sets.
The analysis can be read anywhere but what really spiked up my interest was the ability of Rafael Nadal to overcome such difficult situations in the match. He was 2-4 down and still won the second set 5-7 even though Kei Nishikori was the better player for the majority of the set. Even with blisters in his left hand, he chased each and every ball with the ferocity of a tiger, he hit each and every shot faster than the speed of his opponent's shots, and stood his ground irrespective of the barrage of winners that were thrown at him from the other end.
What made this match even more interesting was the way Rafael Nadal handled the tough situations. Even down at 4-5 in the third set, he broke Kei Nishikori back again with ease to level the third set at 5-5 and then won the set 7-6.
This match clearly showed why Rafael Nadal is undoubtedly the toughest player on the tennis circuit. It's not easy to break down his mental toughness and it was clearly evident in today's match. For me, it was stunning to see how quickly he was able to recover from a break down and still go on to emerge the winner at the end after every downward curve. It was not just once or twice but it was in every set. In life, every time we have been down, how many times do we get up and face the situation with full force having belief in your abilities, confident that you will come out on top?
That's what you learn from this champion, that you get down and you get up, you get down again but you get up again and so on.Once you learn the craft of embracing the challenges and knock downs that come through your way in matches or life, you have to know fully well that hanging in there, giving your 100% will eventually knock out any tough situation that you may be in . That's what Rafael Nadal does the best and in my mind there is no player who can surpass this champion when it comes to getting up from the constant knockdowns that may come in their way.
That is why they say,
"It does not matter whether you get knocked down or not, what matters is whether you got up."
So next time, there is a challenge in your life, get up and face it up like Rafael Nadal.
If you have any questions, you can contact me via twitter or facebook or my e-mail: apekshaha@gmail.com