I’ve just finished watching the documentary ‘Boom! Boom! The World vs Boris Becker’ and while it was eye-opening to see the story of Boris Becker and his relationship with money, there was one standout moment for me, which reinforced the work I do.
That moment was when the film featured the time when Boris became Novak Djokovic’s coach, and how he helped Novak to overcome some inner demons that were holding him back from winning.
Novak said that he was attracted to Boris because of his mental strength, especially on the tennis court. This was evident throughout the documentary as they showed the number of times Boris was able to fight back to win matches from being two sets down, even against other top players.
Prior to 2014 (which was when they started working together) it wasn’t like Novak Djokovic was a terrible tennis player; from 2005 to 2013 he had won 6 grand slams, which is impressive, but Boris noticed that Novack had a habit that when he got into the final stages of a tournament he often gave it away, he caved.
Between 2005 and 2013 Novak lost 5 Quarterfinals, 9 Semi-finals, and 6 finals in grand slams. Too many times he was faltering at the last hurdle.
Boris discovered that Novak was haunted by something he had done off the court (they didn’t go into what this was), and that he was subconsciously punishing himself on the court by losing in the final rounds.
Now, they don’t go into details, or what they did to sort it, but one thing Boris asked Novak was “What do you want from tennis? Do you have clarity of your goals?”
Novak’s response was “I want to write the history of the sport.”
I got excited because clarity is one of the key steps in my work to help people Make Peace With Money. I meet so many people who lack clarity of their goals and it can make them feel a bit aimless, and lost, even if they are achieving things.
The other interesting thing was that money wasn’t mentioned. Novak didn’t say he wanted to earn more money, he wanted to win. It’s something Boris said as well, his focus was always on winning titles, he wanted to be the worlds best tennis player. Yes, they have lots of money, but that seemed more of a side-effect of the goal rather than the goal itself. In fact, for Boris, the money would prove to almost be a curse for him, and the reason he is where he is now, as he describes it “at rock bottom”.
The turning point for Novak was the 2014 Wimbledon final against Roger Federer.
“Against Roger, he makes you have to be your best self to win” said Novak, “It’s a battle, fight, unpredictable things happen to take you out of your comfort zone.”
Like many tennis players, Novak had the habit of getting frustrated when things were going wrong, he would lose his temper, and Boris said that this was when Novak’s mind would stop, and he would lose. Boris said, “the magic word is balance.” He didn’t expand on this, but I think it means that you must have balance in order to survive tough situations. It’s a bit like walking on a tightrope; get distracted, lose your concentration and you can easily fall off, it’s about learning to work through those challenging moments rather than letting them derail you.
During the 2014 Wimbledon final, Novak had a lot of challenges, after all he was playing Roger! Having Boris in his team gave Novak the mental strength he needed. “Boris was serene” he said, “so strong and stood his ground, he knew exactly what I’m going through” he helped Novak to get back to the present moment and to focus on the next point.
Novak described this win as the big opening to what they did in the next 2.5 years as he went on to win 6 of 8 grand slams. After this period, Novak did experience a drop in intensity, he said he felt dull and had no drive because of the levels of intensity, and that’s when they parted ways.
I found this story fascinating because it shows how damaging and destructive mental blocks can be; while this wasn’t about a money block, the principle is still the same.
Yes, Novak was still a successful tennis star, he had achieved more than most tennis players could dream of, but it fell short of his goal to write history, to achieve that he had to clear the demons lurking in his subconscious.
It’s safe to say he hasn’t done too bad since……
MATS Consulting 