master yourself

Do I have what it takes to get it?

Will I be up to a tournament like this?

Wouldn't it be too ambitious a challenge?

The questions rumble in your head when you reach a Grand Slam, the most prestigious tournaments in professional tennis.

They are appointments that we have dreamed of since we were little, events that mark the history of the sport and being part of them messes up the interior of any athlete.

Only the best manage to dispute them and, of those, only the strongest have the privilege of raising them.

Throughout my career I was able to experience immense emotions in the great ones, sometimes breaking the most probable script in my path.

In my first Roland Garros, coming from a previous phase full of dreams, I managed to get into the eight strongest in the tournament.

Being a girl, just arrived on the circuit, I was playing the quarterfinals.

The same round that I played on my first visit to Australia, the tournament that is being held these days at Melbourne Park.

Despite the immediateness of the award, even though I managed to make a mark on the first try, those voices never completely disappear.

The great ones test anyone's personal faith.

The story is too big to ignore, its seven chapters are a boost to your confidence and the focus on your steps is unlike any other time on the calendar.

Aspiring to a Grand Slam is much more than solving tennis matches, it is arranging your thoughts in a maelstrom of attention that can end with your head.

When I look at players like Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, I understand how exceptional their figures are.

On the circuit, at certain levels, everyone plays exquisite tennis.

Look at two tennis players for a few minutes and you won't know how to distinguish number 1 from number 150. Watch them for an hour and it will be a little clearer.

If you don't look away for 15 years, you will find very few with the ability of those mentioned.

Triumph is the great enemy of ambition, but there are players who seem oblivious to that reality.

Dealing with the pressure week after week, constantly meeting expectations and wanting to continue like the first day is a hallmark that differentiates the good from the great players.

Nowhere like a Grand Slam is this division marked in the locker room.

They are events where stage fright is real, where you test what position your career really occupies.

Abstracting from thoughts is one of the most complicated things in sport.

In these events you never forget that you are going through your most vulnerable point, with millions of people watching your steps.

With the wind in your favor, it is easy for the mind to flow in a positive way.

The great challenge is to hold the course in a difficult situation, something typical of a competition where only the best compete.

Lifting a Grand Slam trophy is much more than playing well, it is not losing your essence under the wildest pressure you will experience in your career.

The points at stake and the economic prize reverberate in your head, reminding you that the reward is immense, but also the price you will have to pay for opting to get it.

Emotions run through your interior with an intensity that can overwhelm.

From illusion to anguish there is a very small step, very thin is the line that separates nerves from frustration.

Mastering them, mastering yourself, may be the key to writing the story you always dreamed of since you started on the path.

The Australian Open these days throws many candidates to complete that challenge.

Only a few will have the ability to achieve it.

Beyond the blows, above any shot, when they see a tennis player on their feet they will observe someone trying to control themselves.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber