Posted By on February 27, 2010
For those of you who isn’t into tennis, the Federer/Nadal rivalry is one of the biggest if not the biggest tennis rivalry the world has ever seen. And the two players couldn’t be any more different in terms of the way they play, their mental make ups, and personalities. It truly is a rivalry of contrast, which is what makes it so interesting. Also, Federer plays right handed while Nadal plays left handed. Federer is perhaps the most physically and naturally gifted player in the history of the sport. He floats effortlessly across the court like a butterfly, and his strokes are beautiful and graceful.
Nadal on the other hand is all about muscle and power. His movements are not nearly as graceful and effortless as those of Federer, and his strokes are ugly and unorthodox. What Nadal lacks in talent and grace though, he makes up for in pure desire and fight. He is the ultimate warrior and very strong in the mental department. He is also very strong in the physical department, but because he doesn’t move as graceful as Federer and plays defensive tennis, his body is now starting to break down at the age of 23, while Federer’s body is still fine at age 28.
Their paying styles are also completely the opposite. While Nadal plays defensive tennis from 5 meters behind the base line and feeds off of his opponents mistakes, Federer stands almost on the base line and forces his opponents into mistakes or hits winners. In their mental outlooks Nadal is much more confrontational than Federer. Before the match he goes through this whole routine and makes everyone know that he is going to take control. He also jumps up and down in front of his opponent at the coin toss. During play he pumps his fist real hard in an intimidating manner when he wins an important point.
He is a very physical in-you-face kind of player. Federer on the other hand is a little more subdued, more of a gentleman. He is not as in-your-face as Nadal. He prefers to make the racquet do the talking. As far as their personalities off court go, Nadal is surprisingly down to earth, while Federer is often been labelled as arrogant, although I believe that is an unfair label in a sport where confidence and arrogance is the name of the game. Federer is more confident and honest than he is arrogant. So what has all of this to do with spirituality?
Well if you think in terms of soul and ego, there is much to learn here. Federer has had a long successful career so far, the most successful in the history of the sport. One thing about him stands out above all. His main motivation for playing tennis is his love for the game. Not for the money, fame, or even the records that he is constantly breaking. For him that is just a by product for doing what he loves to do. And we know that love equates to the soul. This has allowed Federer to make the best possible career choices. Because he thinks first and foremost about his love for the game, he does whatever he has to do to play for as long as he can.
He does his tournament scheduling in a way that does not burn out his body or mind. Whenever there is a health concern, he takes enough time to recover. He is in touch with his body and listens to it’s wisdom. He loves the game as a whole and doesn’t think only of his own immediate ego needs. No one likes to be injured and sidelined, but when you look at the bigger picture, it’s always better to make sure you recover properly. The ego does not think like this, it wants everything and it wants it now, and it wants it all for itself. This is where I think of Nadal.
Now don’t get me wrong. Nadal is a great champion and a great guy, but there are lessons to be learned here. Nadal tends to think in terms of immediate gratification and ignores the bigger picture. He also doesn’t listen to his body’s wisdom. Time after time he keeps over scheduling. He plays a lot of tennis for someone with such a taxing game style, and he doesn’t adjust his schedule even after he gets injured. I always get the impression that he is thinking about thing like money, fame, and such outer things. This is the big difference between Federer and Nadal.
Federer is self motivated, while Nadal is motivated by outer things. There is just so much to be learned here. Last year Federer broke the record for the most grand slam titles in history and won the career slam when he won the French Open. He had done it all, and many people thought he would start to lose motivation. But because Federer is not motivated by outer things like fame, fortune and records, this did not happen. This year he was back to his very best, winning the Australian Open to claim his 16th grand slam title. Everyone thought because he got married, had children, and broke the most important records, he would lose motivation, but they were oh so wrong.
Federer loves tennis too much to lose motivation that easily. Nadal on the other hand got injured at the Australian Open again. His body just keeps breaking down in his quest to chase down Federer. Again that is the wrong reason to be competing. It was never Federer’s goal to be better than anyone else, he just played because he was in love with the game, and in the process became the greatest ever. Nadal’s mission in life is to be better than Federer, and now he is starting to pay the price. He just cannot stay injury free, and it looks like he has a chronic knee problem now.
So what is the most important lesson to be learned here? I think when you do what you love and do it for the right reasons, everything else falls into place. It’s always important to stay true to yourself and not to sell out to outer things. Fame, fortune, records, and those type of things don’t last. Love, which is the soul, last forever. All the outer things eventually fade away. They don’t last because ultimately they are not real. What is real is the soul and as long as you stay in touch with it, you will always be fulfilled.
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Tags: ego vs soul, FEDERER, federer nadal rivalry, nadal
