Archive for May, 2013
Arthur Ashe Personified Talent and Class
Arthur Ashe was a fantastic physical talent. He also had the strength of character to overcome emotional difficulties with logic and willpower and make a champion of himself. In his early years Arthur had a tendency to become discouraged when he got behind, and this caused him to lose matches that he might have won. […]
Playing the Middle Game
I was recently watching a match between a hard-hitting, talented junior player and a cagey senior. The junior hit every shot better than the senior yet was managing to lose anyway. I was puzzled. To all appearances the junior should have been winning in a walk, but wasn’t. What was happening? Careful observation provided the […]
Pancho (Francisco) Segura, His Game and Personality
This sketch is for those of you who are interested in what some of the legendary players of the 1950’s and 1960’s were like, both as players and people. I played against them and knew them as well as someone who was not one of them could. Pancho Segura, born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, was deceptive […]
Don’t Talk About Your Wins or How Good You Are
Rafael Nadal was beautiful in his interview after his semi-final win at the U.S. Open. He gave credit to his opponent, said he was happy with his game and improvement, and convincingly downplayed any talk about his overtaking Federer’s Slam record and/or being the best player of all time. He was modest, even humble, (as […]
Great Champions Can Maintain Intensity for Long Periods of Time
Some years ago I was chatting with all-time great Bobby Riggs and asked him how he would rank the great players, since he competed against many of them. Who were the greatest champions of all time? His answer was interesting. He said, “It depends on how you define ‘great.’” Elaborating he said, “If you define […]
