What Will Determine Your Eventual Success – The Simply Luxurious Life®

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Epic. Seemingly impossible. Unfathomable.

BUT! A dreamlike scenario come to life.

Similar to gardening, sports can teach us quite a lot about life if we choose to learn and then apply the lessons. We cannot know what the opposition will bring to the court, nor the weather on the particular day play is scheduled, the umpires’ calls or even the crowd’s amount of support. What we do have control over is our preparation physically and our mental strength.

Just as is the case when we live with contentment, as an athlete, when we strengthen our mind along with our body, our mind’s emotional barometer has the ability to stay steady, calm and confident no matter what may arise that is out of our control. Knowing that we can handle well, thus making the best decisions, in the most stressful of moments. All of this is an asset found in the toolbox of the greatest of champions. Carlos Alcaraz and most definitely I would include Yannick Sinner even though he came up just short following the fifth set tie-break in yesterday’s tennis French Open at Roland-Garros, each demonstrated their mental fortitude had been conditioned along with their physical skill set.

As often is the case here on TSLL, tennis inspires a motivational post (here is one example inspired by Caroline Wozniacki’s Australian Open win). It is an ideal platform for the player to reveal their character, strength of mind and physical preparation (skill and fitness) – entirely on their own they stand on the court, the crowd bears witness to how they handle pressure. Unlike most athletic competitions in which athletes share a common playing field, there is no time limit, no buzzers, no finish line, nothing that gives an approximate estimate of how long the match will last. The match ends when one player wins best out of three or five sets. One game alone has included as many as 15 deuces (1987, Lendl vs. Nystrom) which could last, well, as long as it lasts for one player to win by two points.

As I watched yesterday’s single’s men’s championship on the Roland-Garros clay court between the 1st and 2nd ranked players, Carlos Alcaraz modeled both the preparation physically, but also the resilience mentally. Down two matches, something he has never done, he came back to win the five set championship match that culminated in a fifth set tie-break. A more closely paired in ability and well-played match I have yet to see, and I remember the Nadal and Federer marathons ☺️ – epic in their own right as well (Nadal and Djokovic as well). The consistent skill exhibited by both players through to the end of the fifth set reminds me that while we may never know when our breakthrough to reach our long-held dream will arrive, so long as we have prepared ourselves and stick with it – clarity of focus being our guide, never letting our mental strength and confidence waiver, great things await.

Of course, in sports, there is a ‘winner’, but Yannick Sinner’s name will be mentioned with praise right alongside Alcaraz’s for without both of these athlete’s talent, the match would not have earned the designation of ‘epic’. In fact, it was because each of these players were so skilled that the other’s game raised itself to match the moment. And they could match it because they had prepared. Which leads me to another point.

If you are in the middle of your journey toward a desired outcome, the obstacles along the way and the past that birthed the inspiration become gifts you will be grateful for as they strengthen skills you have needed to learn in order to reach your destination. Epic isn’t thrown around lightly. Greatness met greatness on the court yesterday in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, and it looks like we may be in for, if we’re lucky, another decade of these two fine athletes showing us the new heights that tennis can reach.

Opportunity meets preparation. What are you preparing for? What dream are you working diligently to realize? What small steps are you taking right now, that in time, will eventually accumulate to proffer the results you have set as your intention? Stay the course, strengthen your mind alongside strengthening your unique talent’s skills, and you too will reach a destination that may have seemed impossible upon reflection but absolutely can be reached. Along the way, thank the ball kids, the umpires, the referees, the tournament director, the fans, your team, and even your opponents that have strengthened your game along the way. Stay humble. Stay focused. Enjoy the journey. Someday, you will arrive. And when you do, you will have savored the windy road that needed to be traversed in order to arrive at the destination the now can be more deeply appreciated, and thus all the more sweet.