2 athletes, 2 different sports..especially one thing in common: the absolute commitment for their job!
This is a story about the sorrows of these young athletes and how they face it...
I miss my biggest idol :( I haven't been playing tennis on a competitive level now for like 8 months I guess.
Considering the fact that it used to be my favorite sport for a long time, I find it sad letting it slip away like that. The thing is, I loved to watch the Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open & especially the French Open, the favorite court of my man: Rafael Nadal.
For almost a decade now he stood for absolute fighting spirit, the one where you play a point like if it was your last. In a sport where talent and the fact that you have to learn it as early as possible decide over your actual skills and on which level you play I always struggled with the awareness that I should have listened to Mom when she told me at the age of 10 - "why not trying tennis?"
That is why I try to compensate the lacking training and maybe talent with effort just like Rafael does it on a higher level of course. That is why he'll always be my favorite player, but his play-style is very unhealthy for his body and now he pays a heavy price for it.
Since July 2012 Rafa hasn't played a single match on tour due to his knee injury, he even had to postpone his comeback for the Australian Open, suffering from a stomach virus. Get well soon Rafa, tennis needs you as much as you need it.
Another very contemporary tragedy is around Robert Griffin III, Quarterback of the Washington Redskins.
Winning the Heisman Trophy in 2011 the Redskins had huge expectation when they drafted him as 2nd pick in the first round overall. One season later, being named 7x NFL Rookie of the Week, 2x NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month and being selected to Pro Bowl 2012 we can surely admit: this man more than fulfilled their expectations. Now if you happen to be not that familiar with American football, the Quarterback (QB) is often considered to be the leader of the team and therefore the position, without a doubt, is the most important position on a football team. For a really long time the main goal of a QB used to be to throw the ball to one of his Receivers (WR Wide-receiver or TE Tide-End) or Backs (Running Back & Tail Back) giving them the possibility to make a play. However, like in almost every other sport, athletes became stronger and stronger due to the increasing level of competition. With this trend the position of the QB moved from a rather expecting play-style (get rid of the ball) to an optional play-style where they decide whether they throw it or even run the ball themselves. In short: the Quarter Back became and optional Running Back. Exactly one of this type is Robert Griffin III, but you can also name Tim Teebow & Michael Vick in that category.
Despite having great success with their optional play-style (Teebow clinched playoffs on Rookie season as well as Robert Griffing III this season; Vick is a veteran in the sport having clinched 4 playoffs so far), which is often hard to read for their opponents, they all suffer from one thing: injuries!
Just like Rafael Nadal in tennis they are having problems with their highly committing play-style, which in their case often leads to them being hit by the defense of the enemy team more often than they should in their position.
Yesterday the redskins lost against the Seattle Seahawks with Robert Griffin III obviously struggling with his knee injury. He took them from a 3-6 record in the first 9 games to 10-6 and a playoff spot just to pay the price for his play-style. Experts believe, and this oppinion I share without a doubt, that he will have problems going on like that in a highly physical sport, such as American football.
As much as I love watching athletes with great commitment for their job such as players like Rafael Nadal in tennis, RG3 & Tim Teebow in American football but also some soccer players like Jakub Blacszykowski or Rio Ferdinand, I hate to see these guys go due to major injuries.
Especially for Rafa I'll keep my fingers crossed so that he can comeback to the level of tennis he's been playing for years.
Vamos!
Dré
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