How I Learned To Never Give Up
by Tomaz
(Skofja Loka, Slovenia)
Never give up
I've decided to share one of my stories first so that you can see what an interesting story that you can learn from looks like...
The match I am going to describe was played probably 12 years ago when I entered a tournament with high level club players in the age group under 25.
I won the first round easily, the second barely 7:5 and then I had to play the second seed.
This young tennis player was 190 cm tall, had been training tennis seriously for a few years and looked like a real pro.
I on the other hand was a volleyball player who wanted to play some tennis in the summer.
On paper I had no chances.
But there was one more factor: my girl friend was watching me. ;)
We started playing and my opponent was easily holding serve by serving at least one ace every service game and controlling the game from the baseline.
I was basically trying to keep the ball in play and not miss too much since I was most of the time in a defensive position.
The match was played as one set to 9 and at the changeover at 7:4 for him something happened.
I looked over to my girl friend and her face showed no special emotion except feeling sorry for me since I was trying hard and she saw I was about to lose.
At that moment I decided against all odds and against all logic that I won't lose.
I fought for every ball 110%, I scrambled around the court for every "almost" winner my opponent hit, I returned booming serves not knowing how I did it.
I dropped into some kind of trance (the zone) and stopped thinking about my opponent, about the outcome and just tried to play the best I could.
I don't clearly remember what happened in the next few games but eventually I won 9:7 (from being down 4:7).
After we shook hands with my opponent I sat down on the bench and started to shake.
I realized that this was the consequence of my mental effort to block the reality and logic from my mind and keep trying to win even though it seemed impossible.
I was so mentally and physically drained that I was shaking for a few minutes.
What I learned
I learned that my predictions about the future can be wrong. I learned never again to judge my opponents by how they look and how they play when they warm up.
Even though I played really well, my opponent didn't. He thought he had me. He was really not that good in closing out matches.
From that day on I never give up, not one single point.
Even if I end up losing, I know I lost like a fighter and I can be proud about it.
With that I not only gain respect from my opponents, but also from myself.
