Great champions show us they’re human

Published by Matt Trollope

Rafael Nadal reacts to his forehand error at 6-6 in the fifth-set tiebreak in his US Open loss to Lucas Pouille; Getty Images
A series of recent losses by tennis’s great champions have revealed uncharacteristic fragility in their games, a jarring prospect for fans to come to terms with.

“I lost my nerves in the important moments. He kept his cool. I think that’s what decided the match.”

That was Novak Djokovic’s assessment of his US Open final loss to Stan Wawrinka. And what an extraordinary assessment it was.

How could Djokovic’s nerves betray him? This was a player whose mental strength has been lauded, a player who already owned 12 major titles and two US Open trophies – appearing on the last Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium was nothing new. It was certainly a new experience for Wawrinka, who admitted he was a crying, nervous wreck in the locker room ahead of the final.

Djokovic had already produced a banner season, completing his career Grand Slam with a long-awaited victory at Roland Garros. He’d beaten Wawrinka before at this very tournament, and at other majors. His hold on the No.1 ranking – and his place in history, for that matter – were both assured regardless of the result in New York.

Still he found the occasion too much. But he was not the only one.

A few nights earlier on Ashe, Serena Williams, widely regarded as the mentally-strongest competitor in tennis and gunning for a record 23rd Grand Slam singles title, double-faulted her way out of the semifinals against Karolina Pliskova. The long-standing world No.1, perhaps the sport’s greatest-ever player with an incredible 28-4 record in major semis, was let down by her biggest weapon. It was hard to comprehend.

Fans were forced to confront a similar reality when Rafael Nadal was in action a few days prior. Playing Lucas Pouille in the fourth round, Nadal was gifted a forehand sitter in the final-set tiebreak which he attempted to pummel for a winner – only to dump it into the net. The Rafa of old would never have missed such a bread-and-butter shot. But this Rafa lost to Pouille in five.

The former world No.1 and 14-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t won a major title in more than two years. Roger Federer has endured an even longer drought – more than four years, to be exact. Of the last five major tournaments Serena has played, she has only triumphed at one. Djokovic remains the gold standard, but after scooping four major titles in a row, he lost at the next two.

These superstars have been at the forefront of the game for more than a decade. Fans have grown to cherish them, and support them feverishly. You could depend on them to rise to the occasion and deliver the latest installment of a feel-good narrative defining a golden era in tennis.

But now they’re faltering. And it’s jarring.

Todd Woodbridge, a 22-time Grand Slam doubles titlist, said that when a player’s major weapons began to break down, it was an unmistakable sign of waning confidence.

“The great champions have always had a great ability to block (nerves) out, or use it somehow in a positive way. But this is when you start to see them become human,” he said.

“No-one can (block it out) forever. And it will generally come down to some sort of physicality (issue). Rafa knows that physically he’s not as good as he once was. So therein lies a bit of a confidence shaker – he’s thinking ‘I don’t know if I can go an extra set today’. Their greatest assets have more pressure on them. Because of that, then they will start to falter. You can’t rely on them forever.

“Before that they didn’t have as much pressure on those key shots. Rafa knew he could run every ball down and wait till he got the perfect (forehand). Serena knew she’d land an unreturnable first serve; now all of a sudden she’s missed the first serve and now she has to make a second.

“So the confidence starts to be chipped away.”

Indeed, physical health was an issue for both Nadal and Williams at Flushing Meadows. The Spaniard, forced to withdraw from Roland Garros, skip Wimbledon and endure lingering wrist pain during his Rio Olympics campaign, remains tentative when it comes to his body. Serena revealed after her loss to Pliskova that she’d battled a knee injury since the early rounds of the tournament.

Djokovic, too, came into the tournament under an injury cloud. The Serb skipped Cincinnati because of a sore wrist and during the Flushing Meadows fortnight required on-court medical time-outs to treat elbow, arm and shoulder complaints.

Woodbridge believed additional factors were at play affecting the world No.1’s mental state.

“Don’t forget the psychological aspect of (Djokovic) knowing he has been blown away by Stan in a couple of big finals. Stan’s done it twice to him. He’s the one person Novak is actually worried about in those matches in those finals. He knows that Stan is probably the only person out there right now who can hit through him,” Woodbridge said.

“I would venture that Djokovic was saying what he thought everyone wanted to hear. Maybe he didn’t handle the situation as well and maybe he was a little more nervous. I don’t know about Stan being braver though – I think Stan was the underdog and he had nothing to lose, and that’s a completely different mindset to what Novak had.

“I’ve never been in (Djokovic’s) shoes, but at some point, he has to come off the level that he’s been on. And you throw in the off-court factors – he openly discussed there were some personal issues – and that is a huge energy sapper.”

Andy Murray can identify with the situation of having his energy reserves drained.

Leading into the US Open, the three-time major champion had since May won almost all of his matches; in a glorious summer span he went 37-3, winning four titles – including Wimbledon and Olympic gold – as well as reaching a further three finals. By the time he faced Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals in New York, Murray was running on fumes.

Yet again, it was mental fragility that proved his downfall. Murray is ranked No.2 and is a seasoned big-match player who owned Nishikori 7-1 in their head-to-head series. He led Nishikori two sets to one and held a break point in the third game of the fourth set when a “gong” sound unexpectedly blasted out of the Ashe PA system mid-point, forcing it to be replayed. An aggrieved Murray simply couldn’t refocus – he lost 12 of the next 14 points, seven straight games, and eventually, the match in five.

After Wimbledon, Federer made the decision to sit out the rest of the season to restore his body. Many of the other greats currently struggling might be served well by doing the same.

Djokovic could use the rest to heal his various niggles. So could Serena, who did so in 2015 by skipping all post-US Open events and repeated in 2016 by withdrawing from Wuhan and Beijing – it remains to be seen whether she will compete in this year’s WTA Finals in Singapore. Murray could recharge after his physically and emotionally-gruelling summer – he made it even more so with a five-set slugfest against Juan Martin del Potro in Davis Cup last weekend, one of three rubbers he contested.

Fans want their favourites fresh when the big events roll around.

That way, when facing a pressure situation, it might be their great weapons bailing them out of trouble rather than breaking down.

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