In a recent Ted presentation, Toni Nadal, former tennis player manager and also the uncle of Rafael explained how he always tried to teach his nephew how much he needed to learn about overcoming difficulties to reach the top. Toni remembered a conversation he had with Rafael just a couple of days before playing his first Montecarlo final against Roger Federer. When Rafa asked what was Toni what were his chances of beating Roger in the final, Toni started telling Roger had a better drive, a much better reverse, an impressive better boley.....Rafa asked him to stop as he was discouraging him and told him if he thought there was any possible way to beat the number one. Toni's answer was "if you play every single point as if you are going to die you will beat him"
This is one of the reason's top tennis players today are on their 30's and have been on the top for more than a decade apart from seasons when any of them have suffered injuries.
If we check at this year number one ranking, it is a battle between Rafa and Roger. There are great promising tennis players in the top ten but the only reason those two are still leading top positions is that they have learned how to suffer beyond being surrounded with best teaching methods.
In tennis, as with any professional sport, fans and spectators just see the great stars reaching the top, but as this image shows, in order to reach the top positions, there is a lot of work, discipline, suffering, and training.
If you want to listen to Toni Nadal presentation "The value of Effort", just watch the Ted Conference video. You can set translation from Spanish to English, it is not a great translation but you will be able to get the ideas he transmits to the audience.
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