Kristianne Bontempo | Towpath Tennis Contributor
I’d travel lying if I said I didn’t believe inward superstitions. This yesteryear summertime flavor I played a peculiarly awesome 1st match, hence what did I do? Wear the same outfit (granted I wore a squad uniform) along with the same earrings together with the same socks. First it happened to travel coincidental, but hence I kept on wearing them. Hey, whatever it takes to win! I had a slap-up flavor thank you lot to feeling similar my exact same outfit was my lucky charm.
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Rafa Nadal's H2O bottles receive got to be perfectly facing out. |
You’ll run across athletes from across all sports with their strange together with outlandish quirks, like Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky who had a specific social club of putting on his equipment together with the social club never changed, or baseball game legend Babe Ruth ever stepping on 2nd base of operations on his means out to the outfield, together with fifty-fifty Ecuador’s national soccer squad calling inward a witch doc to give them extra luck inward the 2006 World Cup. Superstitions tin travel tricky. Sometimes they give you lot that extra boost inward confidence on court, patch other times it tin travel mentally exhausting together with detrimental to your game. In tennis, you lot run across this a lot alongside players. It’s non uncommon to run across players avoiding stepping on the lines, stepping onto the courtroom with their correct human foot only, or (like me) wearing the same outfit or for certain jewelry for practiced luck. With the U.S.A. Open starting, I idea it would travel interesting to dive into what some of our favorite pros are superstitious of together with run across for ourselves if whatever of these are true. Can you lot approximate which quirk belongs to which player?
No Undies – Realizing he forgot his underwear earlier his 1st jibe at the 1999 French Open, Andre Agassi decided to travel commando together with won against an incredibly tough competitor. He hence went on to win inward his only French Open triumph together with continued to play without undies for the residual of his career.
Lucky Beard – For several years inward a row, Bjorn Borg started growing out his beard inward the firstly circular of each Wimbledon tournament. He went on to win each yr that he did, (1976-1980).
Watching Teletubbies – Goran Ivanisevic made ane of the sport's most unlikely championship run inward the 2001 Wimbledon Championships yesteryear depending on his routine. Not only did he reportedly dine at the same restaurant, sat at the same table, together with ordered the same exact repast every nighttime for the duration of the tourney, but he began each twenty-four hours yesteryear watching an episode of Teletubbies!
Pulling Eyebrows – I don't know if this was actually a superstition or a nervous tick, but Ivan Lendl would travel patchy together with bald yesteryear the halt of some tournaments.
Twirling on Court – Svetlana Kuznetsova would oft spin 360 degrees on her means to returning serve.
King of Quirks – Rafa Nadal volition 1) ever walk on courtroom with ane racquet inward his hand. 2) remain seated until his opponent has approached the umpire at the kickoff of a match. 3) brand for certain his opponent crosses the internet earlier he does on a changeover. 4) perfectly align his H2O bottles facing the court. 5) place his pilus behind each ear together with fiddles with his shorts (and butt) earlier every serve.
Dirty Socks – I’ve heard of a few quirks most the 23 Grand Slam Championista, similar having to travel the firstly to milk tremble the umpires paw later on a match, or requiring every fellow member of her piece of occupation musician box to sit down inward the exact same spot for every match. But, the most notorious/gross superstition from Serena Williams is reportedly wearing the same span of (dirty) socks throughout her entire tournament run.
Power of 8 – He’s non perfect people! Roger Federer apparently has an obsession with the release 8. Keep a sentry for 8 towel-rubs later on a set, 8 bottles of H2O (Evian only) together with 8 rackets inward his bag. P.S. He did merely win his 8th Wimbledon Championship.
Off the Social Grid – Andy Murray owed much of his success inward tournaments yesteryear going dark on twitter. He went equally far equally to blame ane detail loss of his because he tweeted earlier his match.
No Calls Please - Kei Nishikori chooses non to telephone band his parents until the halt of tournaments for fearfulness of jinxing his results.
3 Balls Each – Jack Sock becomes completely distracted if each ball handler on his side doesn’t receive got just 3 balls inward hand.
Kissing Tennis Balls – Dominika Cibulkova appears to kiss novel lawn tennis balls earlier serving them, but actually she’s smelling them. Cibulkova says she loves the smell, but does believe smelling volition give them practiced luck.
Shower Story – Yes, Novak Djokovic is mainly known for his ball bouncing obsession (his highest release of bounces was 38 bounces), but because players volition adamantly shower inward the same stall during tournaments, Djokovic volition not utilisation the same shower twice.
Strict Serving Routine – 1) Turn dorsum on opponents together with focus on racquet strings. 2) Take balls to nominated corner of the court. 3) Walk to baseline, bounce on the spot. 4) Brush pilus away from face. 5) Bounce ball twice, slowly. 6) Serve, repeat. You guessed it, Maria Sharapova stays truthful to her service routine EVERY TIME.
In-Betweener – John Isner doesn’t receive got an obsession over performing in-between the legs play tricks shots, but he does bounce the ball betwixt his legs earlier each serve.
Lucky Ball – Richard Gasquet is known for demanding to serve with the same “lucky ball” later on he wins a point.
Nixed Her Superstitions – Sam Stosur used to travel controlled yesteryear her superstitions, until she kicked the habit. “I stopped beingness superstitious inward 2009 later on the (French Open),” she explained. “For the whole tournament (she reached the semifinals), I wore the same dress, the same socks, the same chapeau – it drove me crazy. Every night, I had to pose it all inward the wash. Everything had to travel the same, fifty-fifty my hair. It was plenty to drive you lot or hence the bend, hence I stopped together with at in ane lawsuit I don’t receive got whatever superstitions.”
With many of these players gear upward to teach the ball rolling at this year's U.S.A. Open, it'll travel fun to ticker their quirks inward action. Also, experience gratis to portion with us what sort of superstitions you lot follow or receive got been able to kick. Don't worry, you're non alone!