What Makes a Champion??

The other day a few of my colleagues and I were chatting about how the story at Wimbledon had unfolded this year. The discussion as usual moved from how well Nadal has played? To who is a better player Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer? And then is Roger better than Pistol Pete Sampras?
So it became a question of who is a better champion.

As expected the loyalties of my friend's were divided. In my opinion Irrespective of sport, the personal favor for a particular personality stems from the ability of the athlete to overcome adversity which may be a particular opponent, Insurmountable odds, even limits of physical ability or the ease with which they dispose of all competition. This is true irrespective of sport.


A hero of mine is Rafael Nadal. It is the effort he has put to make his game better on grass that is praiseworthy. Every year he has played Roger Federer and shown remarkable improvement. Coming from Spain, a country known for it's ability to produce high quality clay court player's. Nadal showed that it is only a myth that one who play's on clay cannot play on grass.

Many say he lacks the class and finesse of Roger Federer but I say what he lack's he more than makes up in intensity, speed, power and a tank full of heart. I think the words I am looking for to describe his spirit is 'bahut Jaan hain usme'. Roger Federer for all his ability this has shown that when push comes to shove he lacks the grit and determination to win matches which are tight. It is one thing to win matches when you are class above your opponents but the true test of a champion is to find a way to win, when his adversaries raise their game to match his.


Michael Schumacher is my all time favorite F-1 driver but many do not like him. My Favor comes from the he brought the Ferrari F-1 team back from the dead. He transformed them from a mid table team to a championship team. He did it after he had achieved success with the Benetton team. Before his years of unrivaled success he had fought tooth and nail for every point, as he pitted an underperforming Ferrari against the better performing Williams and then Mclaren machines.
In the case of teams my choices are no different. I like to support and watch teams which play as unit and not one's whose wheel's fall when their star player is not around. I like to support teams from whom, it tough to find one stand out player. I supported the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and Boston Celtics this year against the LA Lakers on both occasions. Reason being the lakes relied on Shaq and Kobe in 2004 and in 2008 nothing much changed as they still relied on Kobe. But it would hard to pick one person from the piston's team or to pick one from the Celtics team this year. Now that is what being a team all is about.

In soccer, like teams Arsenal appeal tome for this very reason. The players at Arsenal play well as a unit. These players individually may not be stars it is just the fact that fit perfectly when they play together. The credit for this goes to Arsene Wenger. To strengthen my point just look at the careers of all the players who have left Arsenal over the years. Henry:struggling at Barcelona, Viera: Somewhere in Italy Inter I guess, Reyes: Atheltico Madrid ?? Anelka: Not even close to his days at Arsenal, Lundberg: A pale shadow of his Arsenal days, Robert Pires:Villareal but no impact .

“Champions are not born or made in the gym; Champions are made from something they have inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”

I cannot think of anything more apt and true.