Andy Murray is in uncharted territory – he has never begun the second week of a Grand Slam tournament as hot favourite.
Since his first final at the US Open in 2008, his great nemesis Novak Djokovic has been knocked out before Murray in a Grand Slam tournament just four times. Murray did not go on to win any of those tournaments. In none of them was he favourite anyway – Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal had that tag.
It appears to be his to lose this week. That’s a first for him. The big question now is, how will he deal with the mental pressure? Can he show the calm ruthlessness required? Can he perhaps learn something from an organisation renowned worldwide for just that – the Special Air Service?
Over the course of the last 18 months, Mark Jeffery, director of Gladiator Tennis and himself a former British Army officer, has interviewed ex-SAS soldiers and RAF fighter pilots to try to discover if their mental approach can be applied to tennis.
Answer? Absolutely.
The SAS are, man-for-man, the best soldiers on the planet – they know it and never doubt it because they believe utterly in themselves, their training and ‘the plan’, however perilous the mission. Murray is the best player left in the draw, marginally ahead of Roger Federer on current form. He knows it, but does he have 100 per cent belief himself and his plan?
Murray only has one weakness – himself. That is not to say he is mentally weak – far from it. But many of his defeats, particularly to Djokovic, have swung decisively away from him on one big point.
For example, in the final of this month’s French Open, Murray was a set up, and had a break point early in the second. At that point, he stopped doing what had got him into that position. He started playing defensively. He drifted back from the baseline, almost to the back fence. The break point was lost and Djokovic, great champion that he is, sensed blood – he almost certainly knew the match was his right there. He is the ultimate ‘Big Point Player’.
It isn’t the point itself – it’s just one of many – but the mental sea-change that is key, where Murray knows he’s blown it and his opponent is lifted.
So can Murray maintain that steely resolve to keep doing what works and maintain that focus at those key moments?
Jeffery’s research focuses on those ‘big moments’ where absolute focus and clarity of thought are vital. Those moments for Murray are about winning or losing a tennis match. For the men of the SAS it is nothing less than life or death.
From interviews with these elite fighting men, Jeffery has identified eight factors that make them so effective:
1. Getting the basics right and doing them better than anyone else
2. Mental and physical resilience
3. Belief in yourself, the team and the training
4. Plan, plan and plan again for all eventualities
5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
6. Prepare and accept that regardless of points four and five, the point/moment might not go as planned
7. Extensive peer reviews and desire for feedback …how can this be done better, faster, more effectively?
8. Surprise, simultaneity, and speed of action – Who Dares Wins!
On points, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, Murray does not have an obvious problem. The issues are points 2 and 3, not just this week but looking ahead, particularly when he faces Djokovic again.
For the SAS, working in savage, unpredictable, dangerous and chaotic environments, the ability to be control one’s emotions and shut out the noise generated by the chaos is essential. It is about total clarity of thought – the ‘selection and maintenance of the aim’ as it is called in the Army – and not being distracted by all the many things that can distract.
For the SAS that process is dispassionate – training takes the emotion away. That cannot be said for Murray at the moment. He wears his emotions on his sleeve – you always know how he is feeling. That has got him to No 2 in the world and two Grand Slam titles. Fantastic! But would it have been more, could it be more still, if, at those key moments, he was able to be less Murray, more… ‘Who Dares Wins’?
And can he apply it to winning Wimbledon when he is expected to?
Consider this – in a typical hour’s tennis, the ball is in play for just 10 minutes. Is Murray training as effectively as he might for those other 50 minutes when the player is alone with his thoughts, walking back to either serve or receive? Does he, as per point 3, remind himself that he believes in his ability, his training, his team and the plan? Answer – not all the time, and he must – MUST – do this this week.
What, physiologically, happens to tennis players on those ‘big points’?
Jeffery’s research says there is a huge neuro-chemical dump consisting of the five chemicals: adrenaline, cortisone, dopamine, endorphin and anandamide. They pound through your systems, making you ‘wired’.
The classic caveman response to risk and danger? Fight, flight, or freeze. Murray’s tactics at break point in Paris suggests there was flight involved, as he retreated back from the baseline for the first time in the match.
Consider this also. Djokovic is the only player in the current top 10 who wins more games from advantage-up in a deuce game than he does from 15-40 up. Why is that? There is less pressure at 15-40 – you get another chance. For the rest of the top 10, they do better with less pressure. For Djokovic – the more pressure, the better he is. His slip against Sam Querrey, we can be confident, will be put to bed in time for the US Open.
Djokovic can harness those chemicals and make them work for him – “riding the wave”, says Jeffery – more often than anyone else. This then, could be where Murray must significantly improve if he is to not just win in SW19 this week but go on to turn the tide in his woeful recent record against Djokovic. Murray is actually one of the best ‘big point players’ around. But not as good as Djokovic. So, Murray must mentally condition himself to fight – always – rather than freeze or, as he did in Paris, back away.
That is what the SAS train for – that ‘big moment’ when the door has been blown off, they enter the room and they have to make a split-second decision. To shoot, or not to shoot? They are the best for a reason.
The good news is that if there was ever one man who you think might just have passed the infamously brutal SAS selection course, it is the man in Andy Murray’s corner – Ivan Lendl, the ice man. Or maybe Murray should make a trip to Stirling Lines in Hereford, the home of the SAS, and have a chat with ‘The Blades’…
