Scenario: 17 years old rising tennis player- wins her first Grand Slam of
her career. Surely there were more to come and everyone expected her to become
the queen of the world. But then life does not always goes the way it is
planned-does it? At the age of 21 injury strikes you and you have to undergo a
career threatening shoulder injury. What do you do then?
You either give up or decide that I can do something else. That’s
what so many people do when faced with a tough situation: blame their destiny
and give up. Then there are very few who
know the pain of quitting and decides not to give up. They give their best till
they achieve their goal no matter how many hurdles come in their way. Amongst
these very few people is one player called Maria Sharapova.
In 2008, in midst of her booming career she suffered a shoulder
injury- the kind of injury where there was a possibility that she might not
recover at all. In her own words she
said:
“As positive as I always try to be,
you always question what you’re doing, obviously, because sometimes things work
out and sometimes they don’t, I knew some examples of some people that did not
quite recover from surgery and that was a little scary, ”
So what does she do, she decided to
work hard and return to the former self. “So it was either give it a go or not
do anything about it”
But one question which arises is why
go under such pressure and do so much of hard work when she had other easier
options available. She could have switched to a modeling career. That would
have been easy no?
Easy way out is the most dangerous
one. As Lance Armstrong put it : “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”
And who better than Sharapova to know
that? She could have gone for easier ways in life but putting a limit on what she
will do could have jeopardized her chances of what she was capable of doing.
And that’s what she did:“Of course it took a long time and it
was a process, but it was just something that was in my steps that I had to go
through. And I did.”
After her injury she has already completed her career grand slam (10th women player in tennis history to achieve this feat) and is back to World no. 1 after sliding down to
126. With the kind of determination she has, she has shown to us that in hope lies your dreams and in your determination lies the success of your dreams!
Reason being simple, : "When you start from nothing, when
you come from nothing, it makes you hungry. I am proud of where I came from and
I know what I want. I want to win."-Sharapova.
She knows what she wants to achieve
and has risen before earlier - be it defeating Serena Williams at Wimbledon or
winning career Grand Slam at French Open or playing competitive tennis once again when many had
questioned her return from the surgery.
In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson -"Our greatest glory is not in
never failing, but in rising up every time we fail".
One thing we all can learn from her no
matter what roadblocks you face, get up, face them and give your best to reach
your goals! Your destiny awaits you- go get it!
If you have any questions- You can mail me at apekshaha@gmail.com, http://twitter.com/#!/ApekshaHA or http://on.fb.me/pouTOy
One of the best article you have written. Motivating and moral boosting for those who have failed in their objectives or achievemrnts.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up
Excellent article. She may not be the best tennis player in the world technically or have the most diverse game however she has the heart of a lion and that counts for a lot. She has earned my respect (even with the screaming ;-) )
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