Tennis
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The Joker is looking outclassed and frustrated at the moment. Medvedev is playing really well.
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Djoker looking totally out of sorts. Not playing well and not getting angry either. I wonder if he's injured? Certainly don't want to take away from Medvedev who is playing great
Pressure of history, I think.
In 2016, after he won the French, he'd won five of the previous six slam tournaments and was looking invincible - and then somehow managed to lose to Sam Querry at Wimbledon.
A couple of months ago, the Golden Slam was there for the taking, but he got toppled by Zverev (a bit of a head case) in Tokyo and now gets thumped by Medvedev.
If this headline "As Novak Djokovic Faces History, He Tries to Block It Out" is correct, that's kind of the opposite to what the All Blacks discovered worked for them in 2011, when they decided they needed to embrace the pressure of the World Cup.
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Amazing how Medvedev never blinked to match point then he baulked twice and reset because he saw Joker facing him. The mental pressure is so interesting to watch as his service composure crumbled. Well done Medvedev.
Yeah - I love watching that stuff.
You've worked all your life to get to the point where you need one more point to validate it all - and somehow you've got to try to trick yourself that it's just another point.
Lots of people can't do it. Simon Hughes wrote a book called "A lot of hard yakka" quite a few years ago, about his county cricket career. He was a fast medium bowler - but as his career went on he went from being a blithe kid on the fringes of England selection - to mentally scarred and eventually with a dose of the yips - so bad that when he was running into bowl he was pretty much praying that he'd be able to hit the pitch, let alone bowl something decent.
Whisper it quietly but BB's goal-kicking is looking a bit yippish to me right now.
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Laver, true gent.
Novak had a tough 5 setter previously, it ain't tiddlywinks! -
@chris-b there was a golfer, pretty sure Australian, who did the same thing. Was flying, got the yips, and barely ever played again. And i think they started when he was chipping in his hallway and dinked a couple, and just grew from there.
The mental side of all elite sport, but most especially these individual sports is just incredible.
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@mariner4life said in Tennis:
@chris-b there was a golfer, pretty sure Australian, who did the same thing. Was flying, got the yips, and barely ever played again. And i think they started when he was chipping in his hallway and dinked a couple, and just grew from there.
The mental side of all elite sport, but most especially these individual sports is just incredible.
I know who you're talking about and his name escapes me. He had a mate of the tour form Aussie with a similar name.
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@mariner4life Doubtless Ian Baker-Finch.
Yeah - I suffer "almost intense pressure"
playing shit golf when I occasionally get in the position to beat friends who are slightly better than me. I have largely overcome it by realizing that it matters not a fuck. I couldn't play to win a major - fucking hopeless.I think it's why the ABs have somewhat underperformed at the Rugby World Cup - because a skill-based game is more likely to turn to shit under pressure than a muscle game.
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Are you guys thinking of Ian Baker-Finch?
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@catogrande I believe his first name is Doubtless. But I'm only reading the post directly above yours...
