Breaking a long term losing streak
against a player can feel like a never-ending challenge, a riddle, a puzzle
that just doesn’t fit.
When finally you find the solution
it’s like an epiphany. Take, for example, the relief more than outright and
visibly manifest excitement on the face of David Goffin after his match against
Roger Federer in the semi-final of the ATP Finals at The O2 in London. Finally
ending such a long-standing curse (Federer had led the head-to-head 6-0 before
that match) can provide a great source of confidence to a player and feel like
a colossal hurdle has been removed from your career. At least now it is known –
you CAN beat that player. That confidence must have come in handy in the last
match of the ATP Finals, as Goffin almost overturned the horrendous loss to
Dimitrov (6-0, 6-2) in the group phase only days earlier. Goffin did indeed
come close to winning the final (7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to Dimitrov), and surely the
belief he had having beaten both Nadal and Federer over the previous week must
have played its part.
Sometimes though, two players’ styles
of play, tactics and problem-solving skills just don’t match up - one is left
flailing and floundering whilst the other player looks to be on autopilot,
aware they have won before they’ve even stepped on court. Well, almost. The
other player is inside your head, a grip has taken hold, its far more mental
than physical as you can beat most, if not all, other players on your day. You just
find a groove with certain players – one the winning groove and the other the
losing groove. The one on the wrong end of those results becomes increasingly
frustrated and can envisage a way to beat that player less and less – in short,
they cannot foresee a way to change it. With each loss the psychology of the
situation, of the match-up becomes more and more profound, a gradually deeper
scar.
Take Serena Williams and Maria
Sharapova. Not since a 17-year-old Maria beat Serena twice in 2004 has she had
the taste of victory over the female legend of the game. While Sharapova does
know the feeling of overcoming her nemesis it’s now an eighteen-match losing
streak that must surely take its toll psychologically, and that must make
Williams smile.
Stan Wawrinka went on an
eleven-match, five-year losing streak to compatriot Roger Federer before
finally ending that streak in 2014. He has won again since and had won once before
that streak, but the players’ head-to-head isn’t cheerful reading for Stan
fans. Tomas Berdych had a similar hoodoo playing Rafael Nadal, in which Berdych
was on the losing end for a period of almost nine years (17 matches), before finally
he beat him again at the 2015 Australian Open, as he had three times back in
2005/2006 (Nadal leads their head-to-head 19-4 at present).
The coin has two sides – some players
you love to play, some players you hate to play. It doesn’t fit, it’s effortless,
it’s uncomfortable, it’s like a kite on the wind. So, to David Goffin and those
who have broken a losing hoodoo in recent times great congratulations are in
order. To those plotting and scheming how to bring down an absolute arch rival,
a true nemesis, and the one subjecting you to a form of on-court torture - may
you find the magical recipe that until now (or for a mentionable period) has
eluded you, as nobody likes to know the outcome as soon as the draw has been
made.
Goffin clearly holds Roger Federer in
a post of great respect - saying he had pictures of him on his wall as a child.
However, he played as he is capable of over the course of 2017, he carried it
into the ATP Finals and was possibly the surprise of the entire tournament (not
only beating Federer but also an out of sorts Nadal, and Thiem), despite not
quite capturing the title. He proved if you keep on plugging away, if you try
something different, if you believe in yourself, and your team, and play and
impose your game on the opponent,
then the outcome is anything but guaranteed.
First published on tennisworldusa.org
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