This past Monday, I played a USTA doubles match and our opponents made the extremely bad choice of pissing off my no-nonsense partner during warm-ups. Ignoring the usual warm-up etiquette, they tried to rush us; but my partner wasn’t having any of it. In addition to being a terrific tennis player, she is a stately physician with a proper English accent, reflecting her sophisticated international roots; and she suffers fools with even less patience than I do. She and I proceeded to take EXTRA practice serves to reset the pace of an otherwise rushed warm-up.
A little fire in the belly served us well and we won easily. My partner curtsied when I made a good shot (VERY classy). While I would like to return the favor, my bad knee and natural clumsiness do not allow for a graceful curtsy, so I simply applauded her many good shots with my racquet.
There are times in sport and in life when we are ‘in the flow’, when our mojo is cooking; we are feeling good about what we are doing and are performing well. Sometimes the mojo disappears and we have no choice but to slog through until it shows up again. Personally, I think we can make ourselves ‘available’ for those moments, but the more we try to force it, the more elusive it becomes.
May the universe rain good mojo upon you.