Tennis is similar to politics in that even if you are winning, you cannot relax if you don’t want to end up losing. And in that the level of demand is great, in such a way that nobody can get confused, much less lose the tension. In his memoirs, André Agassi went so far as to write that he hated tennis, that he hated it and, despite this, he kept hitting the ball morning and evening: “This abyss between what I want to do and what I actually do seems to me the essence of life”. Politicians could subscribe to this sentence talking about their trade, because one thing is what their bodies ask of them and another is what their obligations demand of them.
I really enjoyed watching the match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon. And I imagined these elections on 23-J as a Grand Slam final. No one gave a penny for Alcaraz after he ran over the Serb in the first set. But the matches do not end until the last point and the Murcian tennis player, far from throwing in the towel, continued to take risks.
What seemed like a deblacle after the first forty minutes turned out to be a feat four hours later. I am not saying that Sánchez is Alcaraz, nor Feijóo, Djokovic, but that the games must be played until the end.
Alex Corretja, who is the television commentator who best narrates tennis matches, analyzed RAC-1 in El Món the virtues of the new Wimbledon champion. From his words I have dared to write a decalogue of the virtues of Alcaraz, which could also be of the political leadership:
1. Alcaraz believes that he is going to win and is capable of doing so.
2. He knows how to enjoy the most tense moments.
3 He gets over it when things don’t go well.
4. He never loses his self-confidence.
5. You have the mental strength to rearm when things go wrong.
6. Manage the different phases of the matches.
7. Do not despair in the face of the unforeseen.
8. He keeps the smile on his face.
9. Do not belittle the rival.
10. Never give up.
In any case, let’s be aware that Spain is not exactly the All England Tennis Club of London. And that neither Sánchez nor Feijóo will say on Sunday night, like Djokovic, that “I have lost against a better player.”
