An Athlete Needs a Rival By Dr. Tom Ferraro
J
ust like a dancer needs music, or an actor needs an audience, an athlete needs a rival in order to grow and develop. There are many wellknown rivalries in sports. We have the Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees, which pitted Ted Williams against Joe DiMaggio and climaxed in the 2003 ALCS when Boston’s Pedro Martinez ran across the field during the brawl in Game 3 and tossed New York bench coach Don Zimmer so violently that good old Don Zimmer spun in the air and landed on his back. Golf has had many a mesmerizing rivalry including Sam Snead versus Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer versus Jack Nicklaus. In more recent times, and as Gary Smith of Sports Illustrated pointed out early on, Tiger Woods would ultimately have but one rival which was fame itself. And unfortunately for Woods, fame
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proved to be a sinister foe indeed, resulting in all sorts of interesting addictions for Mr. Woods. Rivalries are very good for the sport since it brings out the best in both players, it guarantees close endings and exciting matches and it draws in screaming fans like bees to honey. When I was younger I remember being at the Belmont Stakes to witness the great rivalry between two of the greatest thoroughbreds in history, Affirmed
Long Island Tennis Magazine • November/December 2021 • LITennisMag.com
and Alydar. The crowd was so large that I was unable to see a single step as Affirmed beat Alydar by a nose. Baseball, basketball, soccer and golf have had great rivalries but tennis, as it pits individual against individual, is made to foster great rivalries. This fact was not lost on Andy Roddick’s father who wisely located and imported the best young player in Florida to live with his young son Andy. Mardy Fish was the import and as Andy played against him, they both developed their talent. This strategy worked well for both with Roddick ascending to #1 in the world rankings and after he retired, Fish climbed to the top of the United States rankings. Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena Williams, also knew a thing about rivalry. They lived on the tough streets of Compton, Calif. and he started them young, pushed them hard and encouraged their sibling rivalry, all of which served to catapult them to the top of tennis. As is often the case, the youngest of the the sibling pair developed greater drive and ambition. Thus, the world watched as Serena became the dominant player in the world for many years. The sibling rivalry has been around for as long as the Old Testament, starting with the infamous story of Cain killing Abel out of envy. Science began considering the importance of rivalry when the psychoanalyst Alfred Adler, a peer to Sigmund Freud, began writing about birth order and sibling rivalry at the beginning of the 20th century. His theories still hold true today, some 120 years later.
