The Australian Open ended this weekend, with Rafael Nadal defeating Roger Federer for the championship in the longest Australian Open history — 4 hours and 23 minutes. It was heartbreaking to watch, with Federer in tears during the award ceremony. He’s currently at 13 major titles, one away from the record of 14 held by Pete Sampras. The man who, until August of this past year, was at #1 for YEARS.

It’s a continuation of a season that seemed to go horribly awry starting in July when Nadal beat Federer at Wimbeldon, on grass, which is supposed to be Federer’s domain. Since July, Federer has gone 3-6 against top 10 players. It’s not a record that the #1 or #2 player in the world should have.

So, what happened?

Let’s admit it, nobody knows for sure. But, believing you can win is literally half the battle. He has the talent, the work ethic, and he’s healthy. But, his confidence was badly shaken when he lost Wimbledon — that is his turf after all. In I-Phase terms, he has developed a really strong negative neural chunk around beating Rafael Nadal, and it’s going to take time and likely a really positive (read: overwhelming win) to replace that chunk. As a Federer fan, I hope he can do it!

A few years went by, I got to Seattle, and decided to try again. I remained frustrated by the poor level of instruction, and quit again. Mastery requires lots and lots of repetitions, and the way these programs are structured doesn’t really allow for that. It’s not sexy, it’s not fun, and it takes a lot of time — but it’s the only way to truly get good at something.

The past few weeks I’ve been wanting to pick up a racket again. I found a playground (thanks, Kaboom!) that has a big concrete wall, bought a few tennis balls, and spent the afternoon outside, just practicing my forehand and backhand against the wall. It felt great to get out there, and I was actually able to spend time just working on the things I know I’m not good at. I also spent quite a bit of time working on ball tracking, and making sure that I watched the ball as it hit the racket.

If I had to pick the one thing that made the most difference it was the eye tracking. We talk about it at S-Phase, but I haven’t done any ball sports since then. But, it’s totally true. Every time I watched the ball hit the racket, it was a strong, powerful stroke. Good stuff!