By Emilio Sánchez Vicario, CEO and Founder at Academia Sánchez-Casal.
This week’s habit will be about working on confidence, and what we have seen today in London is a demonstration of confidence. At every key moment, Andy was breathing confidence, in the way he played, in his positivity; even when he felt negative, he was working on his confidence. I can’t rest until I write what I have seen Andy do today.
Confidence is Andy Murray: he is not the tallest, not the strongest, not the fastest, nor is he the calmest or most focused, but he drew on his incredible confidence during key moments of the entire tournament.
Andy is the champion, and I admire him a lot. We first met in Barcelona when he came to train at our academy, Academia Sánchez-Casal, and when we played, he already showed confidence as a teenager. He told me he was going to beat me and he did – easily. I tried to push him and realized what a good counter-puncher he was and how many balls he could recover in key moments. He had a long way to go, but he always had that posture of defiance when faced with new challenges. I remember one day Carlos Moya came to hit with him and his words after the practice were of admiration because of how confident he was. Moya said, “This kid is going to do some damage”.
It has been many years since Andy left Barcelona, always working towards being the top player that he dreamed of. He has had lots of coaches over the years, but the one who made him excel in his tennis was Lendl, taking him right to the edge. After he won two Grand Slams and the Olympics, they split up, and the momentum disappeared.
So what gave Andy his confidence back? I think it is a mix of things:
Technically, he is a mature player and uses his tools well on any surface. He can convert from defense to offense in a millisecond, and back again too.
Tactically, his triumph in Davis Cup last year gave him a boost, and his success on clay this year with the Rome title and the final in Paris catapulted him to another level, where he is much more mature and aggressive. Bringing Lendl to his team gave him the extra boost he needed in terms of confidence, pattern and composure.
Physically, the biggest difference is that he is able to counterattack where most other players would crumble. He manages to convert aggressive attacks into a great defense, or even a completely unpredictable attack of his own.
Mentally, I think that marriage and fatherhood have helped him considerably. Even if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders between points, he is able to shake off those concerns much more effectively than before. I’m sure that Lendl with his manners and guidance made Andy work with intensity and be more patient. This has been evident in the past two weeks, through his focus and mainly for his excellence in those key moments of the matches. Even during his match with Tsonga, when he lost two sets, he entered the fifth set and seemed to have an extra gear, winning 6-1 without a problem.
I think Murray is in a new state. He’s going to have a shot at taking the number one spot.
We don’t know what happened to Djokovic, but his exit created some doubts about the invincibility of his game. Something was amiss with the Mental Pillar of his game that day that made him vulnerable: his performance was not up to his usual standards and something was blocking his focus.
Andy’s other two rivals were Nadal, who didn’t play due to injury, and Federer, who had a great run, almost making it to the final again. However, his knee surgery and subsequent recovery period affected his Physical Pillar, prohibiting him from playing against Raonic with the same level as he displayed with Cilic. I imagine that not playing the French Open was a big sacrifice, but the rationale was probably that it would give him the extra physical boost to make it to the dreamed of Wimbledon final. It was a pity for the tennis world that he didn’t make it.
Andy: you were my favorite before the event and you succeeded! You have a great challenge in front of you, and you can finish the year as number one. You’re in the pole position, you’re more professional, more consistent and more confident than ever. I believe that now you’ll make it!
Emilio Sánchez Vicario
CEO and Founder at Sánchez-Casal Academy
