“Perfection is impossible. In the 1526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. Now, I have a question for you. What percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%. In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play. When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think, okay, I double-faulted ... it's only a point. Okay, I came to the net, then I got passed again; it's only a point. Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN's top 10 playlist. That, too, is just a point. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐢𝐭. 𝐂𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞” — Roger Federer