A few weeks a go you might remember, I wrote a post about how the best 4 movers in men’s tennis are also the 4 most successful players in tennis today.
Yet again, the top 4 of tennis shut-out the final 4 places to reach the semi-finals of The Aussie Open.
You may also remember that last year, I wrote a post describing how Novak Djokovic had become world number 1 (from world number 4) and went on a long unprecedented run of success after going on a gluten-free diet.
The recent Aussie Open was not just a great tournament, but possibly saw the top 4 in the world all playing at their best at the same time for the first time ever (and they’re possibly 4 of the best players ever).
What totally amazed me was that Novak Djokovic played a tough 5-hour match to narrowly beat Andy Murray in the semi-final. He then only had just under 48 hours to recover before playing Rafa Nadal in the final. Nadal had 72 hours to recover from a 4-set match with Roger Federer.
I was very concerned for Djokovic with such little recovery time. I thought there was a possibility that the final could end up a very one-sided 3-set win for Nadal. After going one-set down, it would have been forgivable for Djokovic to slowly fade away.
However, Djokovic came out, took the next 2 sets and was dominating Nadal. Then, in the 4th set, Djokovic was clearly beginning to struggle and it looked to me like he was getting cramp in his legs. Nadal then took the 4th set to take it to a fifth set.
As we all know, Djokovic came back from a break down in the final set to take the title in just under 6-hours. This shows an unbelievable amount of physical and mental endurance, not to mention speed, strength and power, determination and self-belief.
As a fitness professional who conditions tennis players and as a tennis player myself, I can not begin to tell you how amazing his efforts were. I am amazed by him and I also must give praise to his whole team who were able to help him prepare for that tournament.
It is often true that many elite athletes succeed despite their training, not because of it. Many elite athletes are those who have the genetic potential to survive their training, but not necessarily be improved by it. I don’t know what his team are doing, but I would guess they are doing a lot of things right!