Playing against Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the Australian Open yesterday, Alexander Zverev was serving for the match in what would have been his best chance yet to win a major. Yes he would have had to beat Djokovic, but his odds in that match up are much better than his odds against Alcaraz or Sinner, who have quasi-monopolized the finals of grand slams in recent years.
But he choked. Watching him, I feel like I saw a familiar feeling overcome him. "I can't beat him." I identify strongly with this, because I am susceptible to it. I was up on James 5-3 a few weeks ago, the best I had ever done against him. Then that little voice peeped up: "He's better than you. You're not supposed to beat him." And sure enough, he came back and took me 7-5.
It is an insidious thing, this voice. Thankfully, nobody really cares but me and I don't really care that much. I mean hell, it gave me something to blog about, right? Which gets me to my statutory 15 for January.
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