I have to say that the toughest mental match ever was the Wimby 2019 final in my opinion… it was 20 slams against 15 slams while playing a tiebreaker im the deciding set at 12-12 The Australian open final 2012 was the most physical final in tennis history
To complement the last point of the video I think is important to mention that this was Nadal's 7th loss in a row to Djokovic, all finals. Any other player probably wouldn't have recovered mentally from that but Nadal was able to learn from it and win 6 of their next 7 encounters.
Oh bitch please! Let's not make this sound, like Djokovic owned Nadal his entire career prior to 2011, so that he is some kind of journeyman, who had a blast of a season or two just to fade away into obscurity after that! LOL If anything it's the other way around Djokovic needs to get credit for the miraclous turnaround in their h2h situation since 2011, because prior to 2011 Nadal completely owned Djokovic in h2h! You Nadal fans are despicable!...
Think about it, who are the two players dominated prior to 2011? One, who won 15 grand slam titles and another, who won 9! Thats right Fedal, thats who! Djokovic at the time at very most was a one slam wonder, who had his luck on hard courts against Fedal from time to time, but nothing more than that...since 2011 though...thats whole different story!...
And let's face it! Nadal truly only dominates Novak on clay courts and even on that surface, Novak has won 8 times! How many times did Nadal beat Novak in the past 7-8 years outside of clay?! Yeah right...big fat zero...so go boast about Nadal's h2h against Novak somewhere else LOL
Great video, guys, and nice narration by Gill 👍 To have a player of Nadal's or Djokovic's mental caliber is probably a once in a generation thing. To have them both playing at the same time? My guess is that they've pushed each other beyond what we will see by anybody in a very, very long time.
But Novak himself said in winner's speech on center court that Wim19F is THE mentally toughest match he ever played. AO12F might be the physically toughest match. NO?
You can reason all day why Djokovic beat Nadal here mentally but as far as I'm concerned, both have extreme mental toughness. When up against each other, neither will give an inch and both will fight for every point. But eventually one of them will win. Still, what Djokovic has done, surpassing Nadal after Nadal had already done the seemingly impossible, surpassing Federer and beating him on his own ground at Wimbledon, repeating that feat multiple times, is the greatest achievement in sports ever. Not only did that require an enormous amount of self belief, it also required shaping a game style with which he could do that. He probably realized he could not equal Roger's shot making nor Nadal's power, but he could specialize in defense. He became the best returner of all time (perhaps sharing the honor with Agassi), the best counter puncher of all time, having some of the most reliable ground strokes in history and developed a physical fitness that allowed him to outlast everyone. Sure, he has extreme mental power, but I feel this aspect of his game is sometimes overstated while his technical, physical and tactical prowess is understated.
BIG3 : I restrict my comment to big3 only as they are the toughest in skills, fitness, mental toughness… SUBSCIOUS MIND & MUSCLE MEMORY : Subconscious mind, muscle memory have been deeply developed from enormous practice. In any match situation, the perfect shot to play happens automatically from the combination of subconscious & muscle-memory FITNESS, STRENGTH : Very good physical fitness through exercises, and match fitness from practicing & playing many matches in their careers INTELLIGENCE : Big3 have sound levels of intelligence PASSION : Big3 have deep passion, love, determination, vision, targets, etc especially about grand slam matches DOUBTS : When a shot fails as an unforced error, and when the same shot fails more often than it succeeds in the same match, player loses some % of confidence in that shot. Similarly few others problems may cause DOUBTS to creep into player's mind. CRITICAL MATCH SITUATION : When a critical situation arises in a grand slam match, like TB or last few games of final set, etc -- everything depends on the next shot the player has to play -- either as a response to the opponent's shot, or if the player intentionally wanna take control of the rally by suddenly becoming more aggressive, change the rally direction, etc SILENT MIND : During critical stage if the player continues to rely on his subconscious mind and muscle memory and doesn't wanna do logical thinking... the shot would succeed like it did during a non-critical stage only and only if the player's mind is 100% silent (which automatically means free from doubt). Such mind state isn't feasible to anyone, except the so called enlightened people like Jesus, Buddha, Eckhart Tolle, Vivekananda, etc LOVE FOR TENNIS : Otherwise, the player should play every shot of the match due to his LOVE for the game of tennis, with no passion to succeed, with no fear of failure, etc. Then the probability for the shot to succeed is very high. But, we know players break racquets, do fist pumps, yell at their box, stare at crowd, criticize themselves, etc frequently -- which means they are passionate and deeply wanna win the match. May be a Kyrgios or a Bublik or an Ostapenko are the very few players who play with close to 100% freedom at any given match situation. But I don't wanna talk about them, because Big3 are in a league of their own and can't be compared with anyone, except may be with Serena Graf Laver Sampras Borg. UNRELIABLE FACTORS : So, when there is doubt, when there is passion, when the mind isn't silent during critical match stages, and when few shots have failed more often than few others (like frequently missing FH down-the-line shot, for example) -- the subconscious mind & the muscle memory can not be RELIED upon -- because these 2 contribute to the automatic behavior of the player. PSYCHOLOGICAL STRENGTH : Psychological strength refers to not getting frustrated from few missed shots, not getting intimidated by the opponent, not feeling pressure during critical stages, not feeling stress from booing spectators, etc. This is necessary to continue with the rest of the match at the best feasible psychological state. But this is not sufficient. ANALYTICAL SKILLS : The player has to rely more on his LOGICAL thinking ability. Since subconscious mind and muscle memory can not be relied upon (for reasons above) during critical stages, everything finally boils down to how capable is the player to REALTIME ANALYZE the match situation, and perfectly decide the next shot -- upon considering his doubts in few failed shots, considering opponent's performance, considering his confidence in his skills & fitness. This is the biggest challenge. MORE DEFENSIVE & LESS AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY : Therefore, when the player has to LOGICALLY decide his response and play the next shot, his play speed will obviously slow down as he needs to think. So, majority shots would be DEFENSIVE and only few would be AGGRESSIVE. He has to focus the most on what are the options for the next shot, choose the best, and play it. ROGER VS NOVAK DURING CRITICAL MATCH STAGES : Among big3, Novak does this the best. Wim19F is prime example for this. Roger played at unbelievable quality the entire match even at his old age, and 6 years older than Novak. The 2 sets Roger won were won at great speed and superior quality, and Novak hardly could respond to Roger's brilliance. The 3 sets Novak won were all through TBs. Yet, eventually Novak won the match. How? -- His defensive skills, analytical abilities, etc. Roger relies the most (among big3) on his muscle memory & subconscious mind. That's why his game is super fast (than ND RN), more creative, high acceleration -- and that's why is the most beautiful to watch. But, he doesn't have the patience to slow down during critical stages, and analyze (like Novak), and carefully decide the next shot during critical stages. Wim19F, USO10SF, USO11SF -- all these Roger lost due to his inability (in comparison to Novak) to rely on his INTELLECT during critical stages. He lost those 3 matches inspite of having multiple "match points" situations. MENTAL TOUGHNESS IS NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT : So, my main point is -- these terms mental toughness, endurance, fortitude, temperatment, self-belief, fight hardest, champion mentality, etc are just words. They refer primarily to the psychological state of the player. As I wrote above, this aspect helps the player to quickly recover from a failure situation during the match, but doesn't help to play the next shot correctly. SUMMARY -- SORTED ORDER OF THE 4 IMPORTANT FACTORS DURING CRITICAL MATCH SITUATIONS : **** Everything finally boils down to the INTELLECTUAL capabilities of the player during critical stages. This is PRIMARY **** Psychological strength is at 2nd level **** Subconscious mind & muscle memory are at 3rd level **** Skills, fitness, etc are 4th level of importance during critical match stages. Comments?
Too bad stats can't show that Nadal has come back from serious injuries multiple times only to quickly get back to winning grand slams. Its not often talked about and is taken for granted. If it was an easy achievement then everybody would do it.
Nadal is the toughest player. He is so tough that he didn't win a match against Djokovic on grass since 2008. Nadal didn't win a SET (not match) against Djokovic on hard courts since 2013. All Nadal's victories against Djokovic since 2013, came on clay. Nadal, the toughest player. On clay.
To be fair, this is a video about mental toughness and NOT who is the most mentally tough player - for that, check out our RUclips short due to be released later today.
Nadal is nowhere near Djokovic's mental toughness..nowhere literally. First of all Nadal was never playing against both player and the crowd. Djokovic did it many times, and most of the times he wins. Secondly, if Nadal was mentally tough enough he would at least win a set off Djokovic on the hard court, but he didnt, since 2013. Didnt beat him on grass since 2008 as well. From 2013 all the matches that nadal won were only on clay. We saw Nadal's behaviour when the crowd wasnt on his side in davis cup when he was playing against djokovic and lost 2 0. He started to blame the crowd and was saying bad things about serbian people...
You are making up this narrative. First of all it's not Nadal fault when the crowd decides to cheer for him. His humility and personality make him more likable than his opponent. Way before he peaked at #1, Nadal was booed when playing with federer, even on clay court as he doesn't speak French but he still manages to beat federer on multiple occasions. Also, djoko was favoured by the crowd during the 2021 us open final but he still lost in straight sets despite having a winning record against Medvedev. So to speak the crowd is not always the deciding factor, is how the player dealing with the environment with their mental strength
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I have to say that the toughest mental match ever was the Wimby 2019 final in my opinion… it was 20 slams against 15 slams while playing a tiebreaker im the deciding set at 12-12
The Australian open final 2012 was the most physical final in tennis history
Totally agree. Federer is the player I admire the most, but what Djokovic did at that match was unreal.
Totally agree. This is the match which proved mental toughness, not AO 2012 - where I see both of them enjoyed pushing each other.
To complement the last point of the video I think is important to mention that this was Nadal's 7th loss in a row to Djokovic, all finals. Any other player probably wouldn't have recovered mentally from that but Nadal was able to learn from it and win 6 of their next 7 encounters.
Oh bitch please! Let's not make this sound, like Djokovic owned Nadal his entire career prior to 2011, so that he is some kind of journeyman, who had a blast of a season or two just to fade away into obscurity after that! LOL If anything it's the other way around Djokovic needs to get credit for the miraclous turnaround in their h2h situation since 2011, because prior to 2011 Nadal completely owned Djokovic in h2h! You Nadal fans are despicable!...
Think about it, who are the two players dominated prior to 2011? One, who won 15 grand slam titles and another, who won 9! Thats right Fedal, thats who! Djokovic at the time at very most was a one slam wonder, who had his luck on hard courts against Fedal from time to time, but nothing more than that...since 2011 though...thats whole different story!...
And let's face it! Nadal truly only dominates Novak on clay courts and even on that surface, Novak has won 8 times! How many times did Nadal beat Novak in the past 7-8 years outside of clay?! Yeah right...big fat zero...so go boast about Nadal's h2h against Novak somewhere else LOL
Nadal hasn't even won a single hardcourt set off Djokovic since 2013. 19 sets for Djokovic. 0 for Nadal.
@@Summon256 tennis didn’t start in n 2011 or 2013
it's crazy how nadal has won aus open 22 nwith nearly 5 hours 30 mins and recovering from 2 sets down both physically and mentally, 10 years later
"He's back!"-Cornelius Fudge
Great video, guys, and nice narration by Gill 👍
To have a player of Nadal's or Djokovic's mental caliber is probably a once in a generation thing. To have them both playing at the same time? My guess is that they've pushed each other beyond what we will see by anybody in a very, very long time.
But Novak himself said in winner's speech on center court that Wim19F is THE mentally toughest match he ever played. AO12F might be the physically toughest match. NO?
You can reason all day why Djokovic beat Nadal here mentally but as far as I'm concerned, both have extreme mental toughness. When up against each other, neither will give an inch and both will fight for every point. But eventually one of them will win.
Still, what Djokovic has done, surpassing Nadal after Nadal had already done the seemingly impossible, surpassing Federer and beating him on his own ground at Wimbledon, repeating that feat multiple times, is the greatest achievement in sports ever.
Not only did that require an enormous amount of self belief, it also required shaping a game style with which he could do that. He probably realized he could not equal Roger's shot making nor Nadal's power, but he could specialize in defense. He became the best returner of all time (perhaps sharing the honor with Agassi), the best counter puncher of all time, having some of the most reliable ground strokes in history and developed a physical fitness that allowed him to outlast everyone.
Sure, he has extreme mental power, but I feel this aspect of his game is sometimes overstated while his technical, physical and tactical prowess is understated.
Gill Gross!?????????
Yes, it is his voice
Correct
Nadal should have lost that tiebreak in the fourth set. The way he forced the decider blew off my mind.
Is that you narrating it Gill?
Wimbledon 2008 is generally considered the best match ever.
BIG3 :
I restrict my comment to big3 only as they are the toughest in skills, fitness, mental toughness…
SUBSCIOUS MIND & MUSCLE MEMORY :
Subconscious mind, muscle memory have been deeply developed from enormous practice. In any match situation, the perfect shot to play happens automatically from the combination of subconscious & muscle-memory
FITNESS, STRENGTH :
Very good physical fitness through exercises, and match fitness from practicing & playing many matches in their careers
INTELLIGENCE :
Big3 have sound levels of intelligence
PASSION :
Big3 have deep passion, love, determination, vision, targets, etc especially about grand slam matches
DOUBTS :
When a shot fails as an unforced error, and when the same shot fails more often than it succeeds in the same match, player loses some % of confidence in that shot. Similarly few others problems may cause DOUBTS to creep into player's mind.
CRITICAL MATCH SITUATION :
When a critical situation arises in a grand slam match, like TB or last few games of final set, etc -- everything depends on the next shot the player has to play -- either as a response to the opponent's shot, or if the player intentionally wanna take control of the rally by suddenly becoming more aggressive, change the rally direction, etc
SILENT MIND :
During critical stage if the player continues to rely on his subconscious mind and muscle memory and doesn't wanna do logical thinking... the shot would succeed like it did during a non-critical stage only and only if the player's mind is 100% silent (which automatically means free from doubt). Such mind state isn't feasible to anyone, except the so called enlightened people like Jesus, Buddha, Eckhart Tolle, Vivekananda, etc
LOVE FOR TENNIS :
Otherwise, the player should play every shot of the match due to his LOVE for the game of tennis, with no passion to succeed, with no fear of failure, etc. Then the probability for the shot to succeed is very high. But, we know players break racquets, do fist pumps, yell at their box, stare at crowd, criticize themselves, etc frequently -- which means they are passionate and deeply wanna win the match. May be a Kyrgios or a Bublik or an Ostapenko are the very few players who play with close to 100% freedom at any given match situation. But I don't wanna talk about them, because Big3 are in a league of their own and can't be compared with anyone, except may be with Serena Graf Laver Sampras Borg.
UNRELIABLE FACTORS :
So, when there is doubt, when there is passion, when the mind isn't silent during critical match stages, and when few shots have failed more often than few others (like frequently missing FH down-the-line shot, for example) -- the subconscious mind & the muscle memory can not be RELIED upon -- because these 2 contribute to the automatic behavior of the player.
PSYCHOLOGICAL STRENGTH :
Psychological strength refers to not getting frustrated from few missed shots, not getting intimidated by the opponent, not feeling pressure during critical stages, not feeling stress from booing spectators, etc. This is necessary to continue with the rest of the match at the best feasible psychological state. But this is not sufficient.
ANALYTICAL SKILLS :
The player has to rely more on his LOGICAL thinking ability. Since subconscious mind and muscle memory can not be relied upon (for reasons above) during critical stages, everything finally boils down to how capable is the player to REALTIME ANALYZE the match situation, and perfectly decide the next shot -- upon considering his doubts in few failed shots, considering opponent's performance, considering his confidence in his skills & fitness. This is the biggest challenge.
MORE DEFENSIVE & LESS AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY :
Therefore, when the player has to LOGICALLY decide his response and play the next shot, his play speed will obviously slow down as he needs to think. So, majority shots would be DEFENSIVE and only few would be AGGRESSIVE. He has to focus the most on what are the options for the next shot, choose the best, and play it.
ROGER VS NOVAK DURING CRITICAL MATCH STAGES :
Among big3, Novak does this the best. Wim19F is prime example for this. Roger played at unbelievable quality the entire match even at his old age, and 6 years older than Novak. The 2 sets Roger won were won at great speed and superior quality, and Novak hardly could respond to Roger's brilliance. The 3 sets Novak won were all through TBs. Yet, eventually Novak won the match. How? -- His defensive skills, analytical abilities, etc. Roger relies the most (among big3) on his muscle memory & subconscious mind. That's why his game is super fast (than ND RN), more creative, high acceleration -- and that's why is the most beautiful to watch. But, he doesn't have the patience to slow down during critical stages, and analyze (like Novak), and carefully decide the next shot during critical stages. Wim19F, USO10SF, USO11SF -- all these Roger lost due to his inability (in comparison to Novak) to rely on his INTELLECT during critical stages. He lost those 3 matches inspite of having multiple "match points" situations.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS IS NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT :
So, my main point is -- these terms mental toughness, endurance, fortitude, temperatment, self-belief, fight hardest, champion mentality, etc are just words. They refer primarily to the psychological state of the player. As I wrote above, this aspect helps the player to quickly recover from a failure situation during the match, but doesn't help to play the next shot correctly.
SUMMARY -- SORTED ORDER OF THE 4 IMPORTANT FACTORS DURING CRITICAL MATCH SITUATIONS :
**** Everything finally boils down to the INTELLECTUAL capabilities of the player during critical stages. This is PRIMARY
**** Psychological strength is at 2nd level
**** Subconscious mind & muscle memory are at 3rd level
**** Skills, fitness, etc are 4th level of importance during critical match stages.
Comments?
What is mental toughness ? Ask Holga😀
Is this Gill gross? you sound like him!!
It’s him
Yes it's him
The narrator is Gill, it's there, written at the end of the video.
@@tennistimetiborhunyadi3934 of course not is UBALDO
Too bad stats can't show that Nadal has come back from serious injuries multiple times only to quickly get back to winning grand slams. Its not often talked about and is taken for granted. If it was an easy achievement then everybody would do it.
Nadal is the toughest player.
He is so tough that he didn't win a match against Djokovic on grass since 2008.
Nadal didn't win a SET (not match) against Djokovic on hard courts since 2013.
All Nadal's victories against Djokovic since 2013, came on clay.
Nadal, the toughest player. On clay.
To be fair, this is a video about mental toughness and NOT who is the most mentally tough player - for that, check out our RUclips short due to be released later today.
Nadal is nowhere near Djokovic's mental toughness..nowhere literally. First of all Nadal was never playing against both player and the crowd. Djokovic did it many times, and most of the times he wins.
Secondly, if Nadal was mentally tough enough he would at least win a set off Djokovic on the hard court, but he didnt, since 2013.
Didnt beat him on grass since 2008 as well. From 2013 all the matches that nadal won were only on clay.
We saw Nadal's behaviour when the crowd wasnt on his side in davis cup when he was playing against djokovic and lost 2 0.
He started to blame the crowd and was saying bad things about serbian people...
You are making up this narrative. First of all it's not Nadal fault when the crowd decides to cheer for him. His humility and personality make him more likable than his opponent. Way before he peaked at #1, Nadal was booed when playing with federer, even on clay court as he doesn't speak French but he still manages to beat federer on multiple occasions. Also, djoko was favoured by the crowd during the 2021 us open final but he still lost in straight sets despite having a winning record against Medvedev. So to speak the crowd is not always the deciding factor, is how the player dealing with the environment with their mental strength
Nadal toughness is on same level as Novak I think and I'm a Djokovic fan.
@@kilzoldyck5114 No it isnt. Simply watch Wimbledon 2019 and come back here.
nadal and mental toughness ahahahhahaha