You Are Good Enough By Rob Polishook
magine this…you just turned pro. You play a few tournaments, and in your first year, your record is 2-3. Okay, fair enough, as you’re just getting into things. In your second year, your record is 12-14. You play two Davis Cup matches and lose both and then lose in the first round of all seven outdoor tournaments you entered. You also fail to reach the main draw of the U.S. Open and Australian Open Grand Slams due to losses in the qualification rounds. Okay…so this is going to be hard. Then, in your third year, you lose in 21 out of 38 first round matches! Your season ending record is 27-30. In your first three years as a pro, you compile an overall record of 4147. Hardly what you expected. If this happened to you, how would you feel about your game? What would you think of your prospects in terms of making a living as a pro tennis player? What would you think about reaching your goals? As a mental training coach, when I ask kids these questions, most say, “It would be rough!” others have even said, “I’d look for another job!” Well, thankfully, the fellow I am talking about above didn’t look for another job. This is the story of how Roger Federer began his professional career. Roger and his camp must have known or believed what others didn’t: That he was “good enough” to do this. Clearly, early in his career, he was not good enough as a tennis player, otherwise he would have been winning more matches. But while it would take time and experience to get traction, he must have had an intrinsic feeling that, regardless of the mounting losses, he was good enough
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to keep going. This spirit would act like fuel in a car. It would allow him to persevere, learn from adversity, not overreact to losses and not judge every match as an indicator of his future or if he was good enough. Certainly the rest is history. Federer continues to amaze. It seems at every level he plays, whether he wins or loses, he seemingly doesn’t define himself by the outcome. Rather, his focus is on what he can control: Doing the best he can, bouncing back and improving. Similarly, if we look from the outside in at Stephen Curry and Tom Brady, both of them were not good enough early in their college careers. If people only looked at the stats, no one would ever have predicted the greatness they have achieved. It took time for them to be the superstars they are recognized as now. Somewhere deep inside, they must have believed, “Hey, I can do this.” Seemingly, they were comfortable where they were, being good enough at the present time as a person and athlete, not trying to rush the process to be something they weren’t. Their real game was about learning, improving, working hard and cultivating a spirit of courage, confidence, humility, resiliency and purpose under pressure, especially when others didn’t believe. Coming from this place, even if they found they were
not good enough on the athletics field, they could walk away knowing they gave 100 percent. Their score did not determine their worth, and, as people, they were good enough. I know, you’re not Roger, Stephen or Tom … so what does this mean for you? Just like them, you are good enough! No matter what level you are currently playing at, or whether you win or lose in your next tournament, you are good enough. Don’t let others or the results be an indicator of the future. You are more than an athlete. Knowing this will provide the freedom you need to let go of the results, so that you can stop feeling like you have to prove anything to anyone, and instead, focus on what you need to do to continue progressing and bring all the attributes of who you are to the court. That’s what the players and commentators mean when they say, “So and so is playing within themselves, they are letting the game come to them and are not forcing things.” This is the point where the magic happens. When you bring your spirit, your whole self, and your heart to the competition, the results begin to speak for themselves. Then, even if you lose on the court, you still know you are good enough! Trust your process. Trust in that little voice that says: “I can do this.” Federer, Curry and Brady were good enough and so are you!
Rob Polishook, MA, CPC is the founder of Inside the Zone Sports Performance Group. As a mental training coach, he works with the whole human athlete helping them to unleash their mental edge (heart.energy.spirit) through mindfulness, somatic psychology, animal wisdom and mental training skills. Rob is author of 2 best-selling books: Tennis Inside the Zone and Baseball Inside the Zone: Mental Training Workouts for Champions. He can be reached by phone at (973) 723-0314, by e-mail rob@insidethezone.com, by visiting insidethezone.com, following on Instagram @insidethezone
Long Island Tennis Magazine • July/August 2021 • LITennisMag.com
