Not softball, but related to game pressure

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Jul 5, 2016
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Those of us following Wimbledon will know that Emma Radacanu had to end her match early due to shortness of breath. There have been a lot of comments about this, but a couple that I liked are below. Especially the second comment.

""No question mental toughness can be what separates the best in sport but surely ... you aren't judging her mental toughness on yesterday's match," Murray added in reply to ex-England cricketer Kevin Pietersen who said successful athletes must simply "deal with" pressure.

His mother Judy Murray, a tennis coach, went further with a withering tweet. "Middle-aged men should generally avoid commenting on the physical or mental well-being of teenage girls. They will NEVER experience or fully understand that world," she said.
"
 

sluggers

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Staff member
May 26, 2008
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Dallas, Texas
Murray's comment is incredibly sexist. I have many, many teenagers compete, fail and finish the game.

Teenage girls are not, generally, emotionally frail.

If Murray doesn't want teenage girls to be micro-analyzed, then teenage girls shouldn't play in the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. It is Wimbledon, for crying out loud.

Kevin Pietersen's statement was the usual, banal stuff about "mental toughness":

Talent is one thing, but mental toughness is what separates the good from the great in sport! Dealing with pressure, bad form, negative media etc is HARD, but that’s sport. It’s demanding. Deal with it, or someone else will deal with it in your place

Every word of his quote is 100% correct. As far as the SPORT is concerned, it doesn't matter why she didn't finish the match.
 
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Jul 5, 2016
652
63
We will see more of Emma Radacanu. I am somewhat reminded of how many times our own daughters have had meltdowns and have come back the next game or next day like it never happened. Of course, they didn't have everyone and their dog analysing the situation. I remember one game when my daughter was having a particularly bad day and one of the other parents said to me some crap about college coaches not wanting to see that sort of thing as if I cared about things that far in the future.
 
Jul 5, 2016
652
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With regard to the micro-analysis, I think I need to make sure that I don't engage with extensive analysis when the simple answer is - it was a bad day. You see it at all levels including the pros.
 
Dec 11, 2010
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I don’t know anything about how to play tennis or what good tennis looks like.

I am constantly drawn to watching it though. Tennis players are a case study of how to compete, proper conditioning and mental approach. The players and the announcers, (above example excepted), are intelligent and show real class in most cases.

One of our American women could be discussed in this context of the necessity of mental preparation. She is physical, she is a big hitter and she lets so many matches slip away. It hurts to see.

Now Coco…. I think she will be a force to deal with as she matures! At least I hope so!
 
Nov 18, 2015
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""No question mental toughness can be what separates the best in sport but surely ... you aren't judging her mental toughness on yesterday's match," Murray added in reply to ex-England cricketer Kevin Pietersen who said successful athletes must simply "deal with" pressure.
Based on the responses, is there something missing from Murray's original quote? It doesn't seem negative or sexist at all. I read it as the opposite - he was calling out Pietersen by suggesting you can't gauge the mental toughness of someone who withdraws from a match due to a possible medical issue (shortness of breath).

If this was something caused by anxiety, or a panic attack, then yes - playing at Wimbledon is probably not the best approach. But even then, Pietersen could have used any number of ways to say the same thing, in a more positive manner, than "deal with it".
 

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