You Are Good Enough Nothing is missing, you don’t have to be perfect By Rob Polishook
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magine this: you just turned pro. In the first year you win two and lose three matches. OK, fair enough…you’re just getting into things. In your second year as a pro, you win 12 matches and lose 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 due to losses in the qualification rounds. Ok, you think to yourself, this is going to be hard. Then, in your third year as a pro, you lose in 21 out of 38 first-round matches! Your season ending record is 27 wins and 30 losses. In your first three years as a professional, cumulatively you compile 41 wins and 47 losses. OK, now this is hardly what you expected. If these results happened to you, how would you feel about your game? What would you think of
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your prospects in terms of making a living? Would you think reaching the top is possible? When I share this story and ask my clients how they would feel if their first three years started this way, most say, “Wow…it would be rough!”, others chuckle and say, “I’d look for another job!” Well, thankfully this player didn’t look for another job. This is the story of how Roger Federer began the first
New York Tennis Magazine • November/December 2021 • NYTennisMag.com
three years of his professional tennis career. Federer clearly knew the journey would be full of obstacles and setbacks. He and his camp must have believed during these three years what others didn’t: that he was “good enough”. They understood the biggest challenge was about trusting his process, playing his game, and staying mentally balanced. Now clearly, during these initial three years, he was not good enough as a player, otherwise he would have been winning more matches. However, he was good enough as a person. He and his team had the perspective to know it was more about time, experience and staying the course. The rest is history; Federer has notched 20 Slam victories and countless tournament wins and awards. Similarly, if we look at other great athletes like Stephen Curry
