Beating Lleyton Hewitt: A Sketchy Psychologi …
Beating Lleyton Hewitt:A Sketchy Psychological Theory
In sporting terms, Lleyton Hewitt is immense.
Hewitt's technique, whilst soundly built and rock steady,
is nothing out of the ordinary, although his fitness, speed,
timing and consistency (of both line and length) are
exceptional. Like Jimmy Connors before him, Lleyton's strength
is fist-pumpingly obvious, but you don't have to open your
eyes too wide to see differences. I think it fair to say that
most players want the crowd, and Connors was a master at swaying
them to his purpose. In contrast, Lleyton doesn't so much feed
on support as opposition.
I couldn't stop giggling when watching the recent Davis Cup tie
against Britain. The press post mortems (of a second-string
British team) were being written up before the match even began,
so all the pressure was on the Aussies. Having got off to a flat
start, Hewitt gradually raised the intensity and turned to the
British fans with glare-and-fist. The unspoken message was explicit:
I'll take you all on, you pommie *********.
And there you have the Hewitt Factor: Lleyton both needs and thrives
on a scrap... and he'll focus on all the opposition—the opposing
coach, entourage, crowd, and the whole the whole damn city—to get
his juices flowing. This is an alien concept to lesser competitors.
Having made it into the history books with two Grand Slam titles,
some players would already be partaking of the unholy grail of
celebrity and taking it relatively easy. Not Hewitt. This guy is
competition incarnate and he positively wills a fresh challenge
out of each new point. Firing up on adrenaline, he fills the
furnace of the human spirit and forges mettle in the flames
(that's not a bad line...go on, read it again...we'll let Lleyton
read it thrice!). And as one who often fires over into a written
fury, I know quite a bit about the difficulties of keeping the heat at
the right temperature: too cool and your not even in the game; too hot
and...whoosh ...you're consumed by your own white heat.
Lleyton's undiluted aggression occasionally spills over into an
expletive, or a less-than-charming snarl, but this has much to do
with steadying the fires at the right temperature and not even
Hewitt's thermostat is perfect:
like the rest of us, his thumping heart is wrapped up in mortal flesh
and blood.
He's taken some flak for his attitude, which annoys me, but,
in The Age of Cloning, it doesn't surprise me.
Contrary to the view of many, I see Hewitt as one of the very
best examples for aspiring young tennis players to emulate.
This is especially true for British kids, who are too often
encouraged to swagger with pride if they make it on to some squad
or other.
There are of course problems for someone of that age, who might find
themselves at the pinnacle of sport and on top of the world. It is
one of the pitfalls of success that the higher you rise, the less
likely it is that those around you will challenge your words and deeds...
no matter how errant. It's a kind of altitude sickness for high risers:
reality and a sense of proportion can get a bit thin up there.
And how do you stop the wilfulness of competition from spilling off
the tennis court and transmuting into ugly egotism in life? Where the
tennis court ends, the real world begins and love is more than a match
for the rampaging ego; if he is ever afflicted, I'm sure family and
true friends will prevail.
Hewitt is reaping what he has sowed with years of intense practice,
he always gives good value for those who've bought a ticket to the show
and, from where I'm sitting (in an English leper colony...without a
photographers pass!), it would seem he fully spends his aggression
on the court. Oh, and Pat Rafter likes 'the little b*****d',
which would stand as a fair reference with most.
Youngsters should remember that tennis is a one-on-one sport for
individuals and the squad should merely be a place where individuals
get practice, not their reward. Many will look upon it as the
pinnacle of their achievements, but in the unlikely event that
they one day face Hewitt across a net, the mythology of numbers
will prove to be their downfall.
So how do you beat him? Well, men's tennis is in truly great
shape and there are many with the ability: we need to see the best
of players like Safin, Roddick and Ferrero, amongst many others,
to find out if (and how far) the platform can be raised.
But for an opposing Davis Cup team, who aren't expected to win,
I have a cunning plan.
Your first move is to soften up the opposition, so it would help
chose a captain who tucks his shirt into his underpants, which will
douse the flames of competition before you start. Then fill the stadium
with friendly faces—Hewitt fans every one, dressed from head to toe in
green and yellow, and all chanting: 'We lurv Lleyty Babes.'
Choose a pleasant opponent, who looks like he, too, would like Lleyton
to win, and make sure that all the close line calls go Hewitt's way.
You might even bake him a birthday cake, fill it with celebratory
candles...and if he wants to make a wish, get his adoring public
to blow out all the candles for him. But a word of warning ...
you'd better make damn certain it's his birthday!
From:www.tennisforall.com
好長....
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
◆ From: 61.217.183.65
Hewitt 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
