These are the magical numbers every fan of tennis now recognizes.
It was a game for the ages when, at last, American John Isner defeated France’s Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon today – after three days and more than 11 hours of play. Yesterday, people in my office were constantly interrupted with friends and family calling to exclaim, ” Have you heard what’s going on with this amazing tennis match!”
Today, as I listened to the early-morning news interviews with American Isner before the final showdown, I was impressed with his easy-going attitude. Although I didn’t know who would win, I suspected the match wouldn’t last too long today, since, as many in the stadium commented, yesterday was as if both players were in some surreal trance and was delighted when I heard the American won.
Tonight, a comment Isner made to the news media after the game, struck me and brought a smile to my face:
“Just before I went out to play the match,” Isner said, “My coach said I was in good enough shape to play 10 hours.”
Everybody laughed at the coincidental comment. For me, it brought up an unrelated conversation I had earlier in the day with a client..
I was talking to one of my executive struggling with some sales goals, beating up on himself, really. I reminded him of a huge “win” the company earned earlier this month. I reminded him of how three months ago when I was visiting him on the West Coast, when we were planning for the big meeting that was pivotal to the big win. I asked him to remember the apparent randomness of all those events and to notice that synchronicity is alive and well.
Of course, it would be ludicrous to suggest that because Isner’s coach happened to mention “you could play for 10 hours,” that the very words created the reality that rocked the tennis world forever with one of the most memorable tennis events in history.
On the other hand, stranger things have happened.