In 1984 John McEnroe suffered a devastating defeat in the French Open. His opponent was Ivan Lendl, aka “The Terminator.” Lendl got the name from his killer forehand that used a powerful topspin to dominate his opponents.
McEnroe knew about Lendl’s reputation, so he deliberately focused on countering it using proximity to the net. This worked well for the first two sets. He was able to intercept Lendl’s cross-court passing shots with ease.
But, by the third set, everything changed.
Lendl started using lobs to push McEnroe backward, giving him room again to execute his cross-court shots and gain points. McEnroe’s legendary temper joined the match, and his performance started to suffer.
Ultimately, Lendl won and earned his first Grand Slam Victory.
As McEnroe explains in his biography, “it was the worst loss of my life.”
There is a little untold secret, though.
The reason McEnroe lost was not because of Lendl’s superior technical abilities. He lost because of what he failed to do between the points.
As CEOs, we often believe that a relentless work ethic is the key to success.
In many ways, this is true. We must be determined about our goals, our vision. We must be persistent about the…
