Champions do it ONE POINT AT A TIME

As a Black man and an aspiring photo journalist, photographing Serena Williams during this year's Rogers Cup was truly a treat. Serena, like so many other tennis champions, wins games, sets and matches ONE POINT AT A TIME.

When you stop to think about it, it makes perfect sense. Now if only each of us athletic mortals could learn to live our everyday lives ONE DAY AT A TIME too.

Have you ever wondered how a tennis champion claws their way back into a match when they are down 5 games to 1 or when they are down a set and their opponent is serving for match point?

They do it ONE POINT AT A TIME. They don't focus on winning the match or even winning a set or a game. They only focus on winning the point that it is being played at that precise moment.

Another thing about champions; especially champion athletes in individual sports is their ability to believe in themselves. Their assessment of their skills, abilities and the possibility of winning the next point, the match and the tournament or race is not predetermined by external factors.

Consequently nothing on the scoreboard or any cutting remark made by someone who has never played their sport at their level is going to cause them to relinquish hope or to diminish their belief that they can overcome any and every obstacle en route to achieving their goal.

You see, being a champion is not the result of winning (competition day success). Being a champion is a mind set.

At this point, I have to borrow the words of Richard Williams, father, co-strategist along with their mother, and earliest tennis coach of Serena and Venus. In an August 2001 McLeans magazine interview, he described the four essential qualities that every champion possesses.

A champion has four qualities, and it’s not something you can teach.
1. You have to be rough.
2. You have to be tough.
3. You have to be strong.
4. You have to be mentally sound.

For me, in the world of women's professional tennis, Martina Navratilova, Venus and Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova all exemplify these qualities. On the tennis court, they are ferocious champions, thinking and fighting relentlessly during every second of every match that they play.

These women all inspire me to be the best that I can possibly be and to strive consistently to achieve my goals and dreams. Ladies, I thank you.

P.S. My biggest challenge while photographing Serena from the photographer's pit was to resist the temptation to cheer her on too enthusiastically.

Reference:
Q & A with Richard Williams, Venus and Serena’s famous father
The former-coach-turned-writer talks about creating champions, his critics, parenting, and the problem with tennis
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/09/01/richard-williams-venus-and-serena%E2%80%99s-famous-father-on-creating-champions-his-critics-parenting-and-the-problem-with-tennis