Losing Sucks

Phil went to Atlanta primarily to play doubles with Tom, but decided at the last minute to play singles. He hadn’t put much practice time in on singles, but wanted matches. He lost his first round singles today 6-4, 6-3.  Not something he’s used to happening to him. Yes he was disappointed, angry, embarrassed...you name it, he was feeling it.

But when you’re trying to play yourself back into shape after a layoff, or when you’ve been through intense radiation treatments to kill cancer in your body and you may still be feeling the after effects, it’s a tough road back.  And when you do lose, you have these horrible emotions of humiliation, embarrassment and “something is wrong with me” feelings going through your head. You can let it consume you or you can get back up and say I’m better than this, I’m a champion and I can overcome myself.  Which Phil will do because he is all of the above.

Some journeys are easier than others. I’m excited to be a part of this one with Phil for this coming year. We have both set short and long term goals for the upcoming months.  There will be plenty of great accomplishments and plenty of let downs for us both. But we will be there together the whole way through, which is all that matters. We make each other better, we pick each other up and we console each other when needed.

Let’s make no mistake about it. Losing does suck, but it makes victory taste that much sweeter.