Dan Waintrup: Speaker, Author, former Tennis Pro

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Waintrup's rules of winning - Vol. 2 December 05.

"It's my fault!"
- A lesson on sucking it up for success

I certainly had every intention of playing well during a recent match in the finals of my club championships. In the days leading up to the match, I had been diligently working on every aspect of my game. I knew there would be a big crowd of people watching the match, and I knew how tough my opponent would be, so I was practicing really hard. I was doing all the things you have to do to play winning tennis - reacting well to my opponents' shots, working hard to get in position for every ball, being mentally disciplined and keeping my head down on every stoke, and playing the kind of consistent tennis that would force my opponents to play at their highest level to beat me. I realized serving would be important in the match, so I did something I hadn't done since college: I went out on a practice court and hit bucket after bucket of balls - working on the speed, spin, and placement of my deliveries.

I was ready.

Or so I thought.

As well as I had prepared myself on court for the match, I had made one major miscalculation of it.

I forgot that I wasn't twenty-five years old anymore.

I forgot that (as I approach my fiftieth birthday) you can't go out the night before a big match with a group of friends until 2 a.m. and expect to get up the next morning and play well. You can't go out to the best restaurant in town and drink bottles of the best Cabernet till the wee hours and think you're going to wake up the next day refreshed and energized, capable of playing your best tennis.

Everything is harder to do on a tennis court when you've been out late and haven't had enough sleep. Those shots you were tracking down with relative ease the day before in your practice match seem much harder to get to because your reaction time is a split-second slower. You find yourself unable to win those long rallies that are usually the difference between winning and losing because you can't seem to catch your breath. Of course, the more out of breath you get on a tennis court, the more tired you become, and the harder it is to stay focused and keep your head down on your shots. This lack of mental discipline leads to a continual state of frustration and negativity as you make errors you wouldn't normally make. That positive attitude you know you need to have to give yourself any chance of playing effectively and winning the match is about as remote a possibility as a Michael Jackson comeback!

And you only have yourself to blame.

To be successful, you have to make decisions and choices that will allow you to perform at your highest competitive level. This is certainly true when it comes to tennis. As a player, you need to decide what's most important to you the evening before a big match - going out and partying with your buddies, or, staying in and relaxing, having a good dinner, and getting a full night's sleep (a situation that gives you the best possible chance to play to your fullest potential the next day).

But the same lesson applies to everything we do.

Think of the last time you had to give a presentation at work, put the finishing touches on a project before deadline, or had to meet a new customer or client for the first time. Were you really prepared to perform at your top level? Did you go to bed early the night before, or stay up to watch Jay Leno? What decisions or choices could you have made in hindsight that would have left you better prepared? What sacrifices will you make the next time you have to be on top of your game?

There's a reason that a competitor like Andre Agassi can still whoop players half his age. Long ago, Andre decided his goal in life was to become one of the best tennis players in the world. Every action or choice he has made since then serves that goal. Sure, there are days when Andre would rather curl up with a bottle of Jack Daniels than sweat his butt of on court. I'm just as sure there are nights when he would rather be out dancing with his wife until 4 a.m. instead of resting for the next day's match. But Andre ultimately makes the decision that puts him in the best position to win. Not just when he feels like it, but all the time. Andre, like any true competitor, sucks it up for success.

As for me, I've learned my lesson: It's hard enough to play competitive tennis when you're fifty years old, but it's one thousand times more difficult when you have last night's fifty-year-old Cabernet still swishing in your belly.

Next time I'll stick to grape juice.

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