From Rhys Jaggar
Agree with you about Djokovic hiring Becker being key to his success.
He hired Becker for mental toughness.
Becker was one of the toughest competitors and also a person with bigger self-belief than almost any tennis player in the past 50 years.
He was German tennis, like Borg in Sweden. Neither country had done anything in the professional era but one young man with supreme self-belief did it young and kept on doing it.
Becker totally owned Wimbledon from 1985 to 1990. He never recovered from being a set and 4-0 up to Agassi in 1992 and losing. But even if you lose it, you remember what it was like. What that feeling of invincibility was like. That’s what he’s taught Djokovic.
Murray was learning that with Lendl. His family background is that of a strong mother and a father who was proud of his son but more in the background.
So there was a greater value-add for him from a strong male mentor. It’s not sexist saying that Amelie Mauresmo can’t replicate that as a woman. She’s a woman, not a man. She can do things Becker and Lendl can’t do. But maybe Murray’s already got that from his own mother,so what I’m saying isn’t sexist, rather just asking where the most value add for Murray will come from?
Lendl was right for him because he took time to win grand slam finals, but then he kept on winning them. Murray won Olympics, US Open and Wimbledon in 12 months with Lendl. Nothing since.
Little things:
1. He stayed up beyond midnight to watch his brother win the doubles final. Great familial solidarity, did it take the edge off his sleep pattern? Against Djokovic, that might matter….
2. Chuntering to himself and the box. Lendl got rid of that, now it’s back again. Why? Where’s the tough disciplinarian holding him to a standard?
3 . Saying ‘I just want to go home!’ at the Press Conference. Not the thing to say in public – he should have been saying that on the phone to his wife! Probably was, but she’s the only person he needs to say it to…..
4. Not having the belief under the highest pressure – he’s got the game to beat Djokovic in Australia, he doesn’t have the mental fortitude. He needs to decide, right now, before Easter, whether he ever wants to develop it or not. There’s not going to be time otherwise.
5. Having the Press describing him as ‘Britain’s greatest sportsman’ last December – I don’t think he’s close to what Sir Steve Redgrave did. Redgrave was the best at what he did for 15 years.
There’s too much around his marketing camp of trying to make him something he’s not. You can only be the best in the world being truly authentic. That media operation behind him isn’t. He’ll make shedloads of dosh: he needs to decide, right now, whether he’d rather be a Beckham or a Scholes (who never blew him own trumpet but was the recipient of Zidane’s very public praise years on….).
Man City announce Pep Guardiola on the last day of the transfer window.
Hardly a surprise but it does make you wonder if the EPL will become a procession for City in future.
I hope not – football is boring if you know who’s going to win. I wonder whether he’ll cope with living in a wet, dark city in winter. It’s nothing like Barcelona at all. Some adapt, some don’t. But I knew people on my MBA course who were from Brazil and Portugal who had seasonal affective disorder in Manchester in the winter – not enough sun and light and their bodies didn’t adapt well. Time will tell.
Makes you wonder if Pellegrini will end up at Chelsea?
And Wenger will be breathing a huge sigh of relief on the one hand but now has the perfect excuse for not winning again in the future.
Myles says:
Well, Murray won the Davis Cup…but I know what you’re saying. And I think you’re right.
I’m just thankful that Britain has a tennis player who can get to a slam final and maybe win it.
Novak is super-dedicated and driven. A few years back he showed his extreme seriousness by asking his fitness coach to design a 10-year physical programme that would make him stronger season after season.
You’re almost right about Brazilians. I knew a Brazilian guitarist and his girlfriend in the Seventies and they were like that. It’s a very common syndrome.
But Gilberto settled in quickly with a goal in the Charity Shield and soon became an legendary Invincible. He never complained about the cold weather. And when I met him at a Street Football event one night he seemed very happy with his life over here.
Pep Guardiola has never played or managed over here. He is very demanding and ruthless and will need to be. He ‘s very good with Spanish and Latin players.
Although I’m told that Messi will always be at Barca and then finish his playing days in Qatar.