I remember as if it happened yesterday the final match of US Open 2020 when Alexander Sascha Zverev was fighting against Dominic Thiem such as just after the match I noted that:
“Passed away like wind… US Open 2020 tennis tournament has just closed the courts by a “heartbroken story” … I had tears in my eyes… almost about crying because of witnessing again and again how “pressure” could engulf creativity and confidence… the crucial question of “Who I am” thereby let to understand enigma to get rid of the pressure unless: Once you figure out the crucial question of “Who I am” there will be no any Dorian to prevent the way…”
Years by years Zverev grow up and managed to deal with pressure, “demagogies shown during the game by his opponents”, non – sensical accusations… by inquiring his specificity among the other players…The result of it and of his hard-working, in Roland Garros 2022 he reached high moment in his game nevertheless this time unexpected injury blocked his way through to get the grand slam championship…. Therefore, unfortunately, Zverev had to retire not only for that match but also entire of that season… and he had to rebegin after the injury period to access his rhythm again… It was not such easy because the next gen has already begun to play high level tennis crowning with championship… In this context, Zverev’s job was getting harder…
Nevertheless, Zverev, who is also diabetic, managed to come back to his rhythm again such that in Rome 2024 he crowned his return to the courts with championship then after as French says it is like a “déjà vu!” he came into the match with Rafael Nadal in Roland Garros 2024 reminding Heraclitus time…which illustrates / proves that time flows spiral and circular and it depends on our ability to get rid of the same circumstances…. The journey of Zverev brings me to the door of Hermann Hesse from whose novel Siddhartha I can recapitulate Zverev’s case as :
“Well, Govinda, are we on the right road? Are we gaining knowledge? Are we approaching salvation? Or are we perhaps going in circles — we who thought to escape from the cycle?”.
By his look confident and calm, Zverev incarnates in a way idyllic his “salvation” from pressure, demagogies, accusations… such as Zverev manage to cultivate ball with his spin, very well constructs the points, moves very quickly and sustainable, shortly he illustrate fantastically how to dictate / construct every point as if playing chess…
Although, Zverev’s journey throughout the Roland Garros 2024 was not easy, he manage to recover himself for the next round such as after his victory of quarter final, Zverev gives the crucial trace of his return as :
“You recover in the off-season, and you do the work in the off-season that tennis becomes easy. And I think for me, I have a mindset that you have to work harder than everyone else to be the best player and I think the best players are all doing that. For me, I like to work to my absolute limit and, if I do that, then playing five sets, all of a sudden, is not that difficult. And, I mean, I’ve been doing that over many, many years now and I’m happy it’s paying off, still paying off and I’m happy to be in another semi – final. Hopefully I can win one.”
As a result, it is evident that consistency, hardworking, discipline and recognizing own specificity to deal with all kinds of unexpected moments are the key crucial to success and also to salvation from the repetition of same circles…
Nevertheless, Zverev could not get out of the repetition of same circles because at the end of the final match he gave up…
Hope that next time Zverev get what he well deserves….
Thank you Zverev…
wonderland 