Novak Djokovic, the 18 time grand slam champion, was playing probably the biggest match of his career, the 2021 French Open Final. A year ago, he had been totally outplayed in the finals of the same tournament, by Rafael Nadal. Many considered the 2020 French Open, the best chance for Djokovic to win the tournament, as the playing conditions were more favorable to him than they ever were. Inspite of this, he failed miserably in the final. Thus, 2021 French Open, was a chance for Djokovic to seek redemption.
After a series of hard fought matches, he reached the French Open Final in 2021, once again. Now, he had a point to prove to his doubters. The doubters who up until that point were saying that he couldn’t win a French Open title by defeating Rafael Nadal from Spain, widely considered the greatest clay court player ever. Enroute to the final, he had defeated Nadal in a epic 4 hour thriller. After defeating the Spaniard in the semi final, it seemed that he finally would prove his doubters wrong.
However, one final hurdled awaited him. That hurdle was in the form of the 6’4”, big hitting, number five seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece. The Greek, playing on his favourite surface, was having a great tournament. He was in no mood to bow down to the world number one, Novak.
Soon after the match began, Djokovic found himself fighting the odds. The Greek was hitting winners left right and center. On the other hand, Djokovic seemed uncharacteristically mediocre. To make the matters worse for Novak, the crowd at the Philippe-Chatrier, were rooting against Djokovic. He was now fighting two big enemies in the form of Stefanos and the hostile crowd. The Serbian looked down and out. With an hour and a half gone in the match, Djokovic was two sets to love down. This meant that, in order to win the coveted French Open title and to prove his doubters wrong, he would have to win three sets consecutively against the 22 year old Greek. He couldn’t afford to lose anymore sets, to his in form opponent.
However, at the start of third set Djokovic was starting to dominate his opponent again. It seemed that this was a completely different player, than the one we had seen in the opening two sets of the match. Suddenly he seemed more confident in his game. The shots were beginning to flow again. Fast forward two and a half hours, and Djokovic was holding the beautiful French Open Trophy with the final score reading, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in favour of Novak. He had succeeded in proving his doubters wrong by winning his second French Open title. He had also won over the hostile crowd by his mental fortitude, which was now applauding him in awe.
But how did such an incredible turn around happen. How did the player, who earlier was looking totally out of sorts, defy the odds and win the trophy ?
I will let Novak explain it himself.
“There’s always two voices inside: one [is] telling you that you can’t do it, that it’s done, it’s finished. That voice was pretty strong after that second set.
“I felt that that was a time for me to actually vocalise the other voice and try to suppress the first one that was saying I can’t make it. I told myself I can do it [and] encouraged myself. I strongly started to repeat that inside of my mind, [and] tried to live it with my entire being.”
“Once I started playing in that third set, especially in the first few games, I saw where my game [was] at, it kind of supported that second voice that was more positive, more encouraging,” he added. “After that there was not much of a doubt for me.”
This victory by Novak proves the massive difference your thoughts can create in your life. The player who seemed well on his way to lose at one point in the match, completely turned the tide around, just by taking charge of his inner dialogue.
When you are confronted by tough situations in life, its imperative to take charge of what thoughts you feed your mind with. When the going gets tough, when everyone starts doubting you, when the voice of self doubt in your head starts to get strong, you should feed your mind with positive, encouraging thoughts. Remind yourself of all the victories, no matter how small, that you have achieved in life. Keep re affirming the positive, encouraging thoughts in your head and take some action towards your goal. Soon you’ll find that the negative thoughts are silenced. You’ll feel more strong about yourself and more capable of tackling the situation.
At the end of the day this conquest of the great champion, Novak Djokovic, just proves the truth behind the following saying,
“The mind is everything. What you think, you become” – Buddha
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