Vishal's Blog

  Book Review – Rafa My Story - Rafael Nadal’s autobiography Author – John Carlin If you think John Carlin’s book Invictus was very well written, you won’t be surprised after reading this one. We know Rafael Nadal is Spanish and not very fluent with the English language but the book is written flawlessly - courtesy John Carlin. Here’s a starter from the book which speaks volumes not only about the ability of the writer but also about what goes on in the mind of Rafael Nadal during a match. ======= The cathedral rush of the Centre court is good for my game. Because what I battle hardest to do in a tennis match is to quiet the voices in my head, to shut everything out of my mind but the contest itself and concentrate every atom of my being on the point I am playing. If I made a mistake on my previous point, forget it; should a thought of victory suggest itself, crush it. ======= Not to regret the past and to stay focused till it was over was Nadal’s mantra during the e...

Think Like a champion - Book Review - Dr Rudi Webster The author Dr. Rudi Webster is a leading sports psychologist and has worked extensively in the field of sports management most notably with the champion West Indies cricket team of the 1980’s. Closer home he worked as a mental conditioning coach with Kolkata Knight Riders who won the coveted IPL trophy in 2012. As the title suggests, the author has widely discussed the mentality of a champion throughout the book. The gist is that dedication, discipline, hard work and mental control positively affect performance and are learnable skills. Fear, confusion and mental weakness do the opposite and it is possible to get rid of them by proper training. To understand the frame of mind of the champions he has interviewed athletes like MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Viv Richards, Dennis Lillee, Wasim Akram, Sir Garfield Sobers and many others. The author has asked pointed questions on performance optimization and success tec...