Page Title
Even Champions Choke
I have tremendous admiration for Steffi Graf. Her character
is so strong, so practical, and so perfectly competitive that I am in awe
of her. Her shots are, of course, wonderful as well, but it is her grace
under pressure that brings me to the edge of my seat. It is not simply the
fact that she won both the French and Wimbledon Championships last year
that intrigues me; it is the way she won them. (I plan to discuss Vicario's
incredible mentality in a future article.)
In the French Open final against Vicario last year, Graf
won the first set 6-4 and held a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set tiebreaker,
so close to her fifth French singles Championship that she could taste it.
Then the incredible happened. Graf made a couple of easy errors, started
to think, develop doubts, choke, and ended up giving away the set on four
consecutive errors and a double fault.
Which of us has not had a similar experience (although
not in the finals of a major championship)? We have all wanted to win an
important match, had a lead, reached the brink of victory, gotten excited,
started to think, choked, and then blown our leads. The interesting
difference between Graf and the rest of us, however, is in what happened
after the choke.
At a set all Vicario seemed to have turned the tide of
battle and was in the driver's seat all the way. Steffi was a little down,
having choked away her chance for a straight set victory. Vicario moved
to a 4-2 lead and had several chances to go up 5-2. Graf fought to keep
the set close. Vicario served for the match at 5-4 but Graf dodged that
bullet and evened the score at 5-5. Maybe Steffi was making her move? But
no, only more disappointment. Four games later Vicario served for the match
again at 7-6. At this stage most people would have concluded that it was
simply not their day. Graf was tired, had thrown away her chances due to
weakness of nerve, and had been teetering on the brink of defeat for the
past hour. Her hopes had been dashed again and again. Any normal mortal
would have weakened just enough to give Vicario the match. But of course
Graf fought on and ultimately won the Championship.
What can we learn from this? We can see how a champion
reacts when she chokes and try to emulate her attitude when we choke, as
we are sure to do from time to time. Steffi accepted with equanimity
the fact that she had choked and derailed her chances of an early victory,
but the attitude that saved her was her belief that choking was not necessarily
going to make her lose. She did not look at choking as a character
flaw that was going to be her undoing on this day. Choking meant only that
as the third set commenced Graf was even rather than having already won.
She was prepared to fight out the remainder of the match on the same basis
that she fights out all three set matches. And deep in her heart she knows
that if she does this she usually wins.
This is the crucial attitudinal difference between Steffi
and many tennis players. Most of us are fearful. Against a difficult
opponent in an important situation we are afraid that we may not have the
"stuff" it takes to be a winner. We become most likely
to choke when we get ahead and the match is apparently ours for the taking.
We become afraid that our opponents will, at this last crucial instant,
manage to wiggle free. We know that this is our golden opportunity to win
and fear that if we falter now we will not get another chance. The feeling
that we must win now or never is a tremendous source of pressure. And
the most debilitating attitude of all is that choking is a character deficiency,
proof that we are not "winners."
So after choking many players lose confidence and courage.
They are discouraged not just because they lost a few points, but
more so because they think they don't have "it." They
may gamely attempt to fight on but their confidence is shattered, their
resolve is weak, and they become unlikely to come up with their best tennis
in the next crucial situation. And because of this attitude they will usually
ultimately lose.
Steffi Graf is not admirable because she is without
fear. She certainly has her fears. She is admirable because she doesn't
allow them to debilitate her.
And just to show that choking and still winning the French
final was not a fluke, Steffi also choked and won the Wimbledon final. Up
a set and 4-0 she was absolutely killing Vicario. Then, almost by luck,
Vicario won a game. You could virtually see Steffi start to think. Incredible
mistakes made their way into her game. She lost her serve by whiffing the
shortest overhead imaginable at 30-40. Serving for the match at 5-4, Steffi
served two double faults to lose the game. Then at 5-all she regained control
of herself, played two excellent games, and won her seventh Wimbledon. She
is truly a great champion.
Send email to the author
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Allen Fox has had an illustrious tennis career, including
being ranked among the top ten U.S. players for five years and being a member
of the U.S. Davis Cup team three times. He was the tennis coach at Peperdine
University for many years (now retired) and among his many tennis credentials,
he is the author of two books on tennis psychology (he has a Ph.D in Psychology
from U.C.L.A.) and strategy:
- "If I'm the Better Player, Why Can't I win?
- "Think to Win"
Click here, to see more complete biography
of Allen Fox.
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