Humble and Ferocious
It is probably fair to say that I spent far too long in front of the television yesterday. Yes, I got totally caught up in the Federer vs. Nadal Wimbledon tennis final. I don’t think I missed a single point!
It felt like a real privilege actually. It was the best game of tennis I have ever seen. And it seems like I’m not the only one. Pretty much everyone is hailing it as the greatest game of tennis that has ever been played.
One of the things I love about Federer and Nadal is that they are both amazing tennis champions. They are both in a class of their own. No one else can get near them. And yet, they are two of the must humble, genuine guys around as well. Neither of them has a trace of arrogance.
I was reading how after Nadal thrashed Federer in the French Open, he deliberately waited to go into the locker room to give space to Federer who he knew would really be feeling down. And, just this morning, Nadal got onto a plane to Stuttgart to apologise in person for having to pull out of their tournament this week due to a knee injury. Not only that, after winning the Queen’s tennis tournament a few weeks ago he flew home via an Easy Jet flight - Europe’s low cost, budget airline.
Nadal in particular seems to combine real ferocity on the tennis court that is fueled by absolute humility. So many sports stars are undermined by arrogance. And arrogance is such an ugly quality. I love it that both Federer and Nadal show us that you don’t need to be a horrible, arrogant person to make it to the top. In fact, I would argue that their humility is perhaps the reason they are so consistently at the top of world tennis year after year.
It may not be a quality that is massively valued, but I’m convinced that one of the keys to lasting success - individually or as an organisation - is humility.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Glad to hear you enjoyed it too! Nice post.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Yeah I agree it was a brilliant match. There is something very powerful about two amazing sportsmen going head to head heart and soul. As the commentator said it was more than Tennis - almost gladatorial. For individuals to give all of themself in any arena is special and to have the world watching on such a scale is quite humbling - dare I say it was spiritual!
July 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Yeah, it definitely had a gladiatorial feel to the match. And you’re right, there was more going than on than just a game of tennis watching that!