Some are describing it as the biggest upset in womens tennis history. I think this is the biggest upset we’ve ever seen in women’s tennis, said Rennae Stubbs, the analyst and former Australian doubles star. In fact, according to the Elo system, which takes into account players match results and quality of opposition and creates power rankings for anything from chess to the NFL, Roberta Vinci (#13 FCIR) had only about a 3 percent chance of beating Serena Williams (#1 FEAR). What the system didn’t and couldn’t take into account, however, was the fact that this was a chance for Serena to win a Grand Slam in the same calendar year, and feat not accomplished since Steffi Graf (#6 BEIR) in 1988. Yes, this would be no ordinary tennis match for Ms. Williams. This would be a match messing with the mind, and when that happens to the #1 FEAR, you better throw out all facts and figures.
Anyone recall years ago when #1 Chi Chi Rodriguez was asked to write a $50 magazine article on his putting? He said, “I always just walked up to the putt and knocked it in the hole. But when I stopped to analyze it, I started to think about it. Sure enough, I got the jitters and it really hurt my career on the regular Tour. That $50 cost me a lot of money.”
Serena’s case has some similarities. Before the match, she stated that she was not nervous at all. “I’ve been completely relaxed, chill … and I’ll be fine again.” We believe Serena. No Brain Type is more in-the-moment than the #1 FEAR, not envisioning the future with accurate detail and how it will “feel” once they get there. “I just go for it,” she explained at Wimbledon this year. “At that point I kind of relax and see whatever happens, happens.” Sounds a lot like Chi Chi. This time, however, Serena, did not relax, as she fell 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, at the U.S. Open. After her first set victory, everything seemed to be in order, but then the wheels fell off. To be fair, Vinci played well, and she has since been BT-appropriately described as “a clever tactician.” However, critics agree that Serena lost to something much, much bigger in her mind.
She lost to the Grand Slam more than anything else, said Martina Navratilova (#6 BEIR the most competitive of BTs), who knows the pursuit well. But still, Vinci had to finish it off.
I think she lost her way, mentally, said her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. Tactically she didn’t know what to do at a certain point. When you do the wrong choices, you lose the points that you’re used to winning, and then you don’t understand what’s happening, and then you make more and more wrong choices.
Yes, Serena temporarily lost her mind, even according to her coach who’s still looking for answers to this embarrassing meltdown. Yet with just a modicum of BT insight, he, and Serena, could make sure this never happens again. When #1‘s melt, their Right-brained emotions take over their typically dominant Empiricism (or 5 senses). Vision and handling reality quickly fade, while their EA gross motor muscles tighten up. For Serena, the weight of the world suddenly fell upon her. That’s tightness, that’s what it is, said Rennae Stubbs, commenting on Serena dismal 49 percent baseline returns.
Only from a Brain Type’s perspective do events in both life and sports make much more sense. And how about Mary Joe Fernandez, the rare and cerebral #14 BCIR, who won two Grand Slam doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals in doubles? She said the most significant stress she has felt came not during her pro tennis career, but before tests in school!
Yes, with Brain Types, things just make a lot more sense.
Written by: Staff
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