Sam Querrey vs. Marin Cilic: Psychology of a Heartbreaker

(Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

Search the globe far and wide and you'll not find a tennis venue that's either more daunting or more inspiring than Wimbledon's Centre Court. For two young players like Querrey and Cilic, it's the sort of thing that causes heart palpitations. Idyllic and pristine, it ignites this almost other worldly electricity, for it is home to so much compelling history.

The passage of time in the tennis world has always been marked by the exploits of iconic legends of the game. Legends, who have come of age on the very hallowed grassy grounds that Cilic and Querrey, each for the first time in their promising careers, alighted upon with reverence.

The glorious cathedral of tennis that these two lanky phenoms went to work in, immediately became the setting for a brand of tennis warfare that was physical and spiritual. Most of all, as the match wound toward its conclusion in the waning daylight, it was psychological.

But that shouldn't be a surprise.

Psychology is the prevailing theme that runs through each and every tennis match. Sometimes it's implicit, camouflaged behind the prowess of the competitors, almost as if it didn't exist at all.

At other times, as in yesterday's struggle between these two boys desperately hungry to become men, psychology becomes as important as the techniques—topspin forehands, kick serves, footwork—that these world class players seek to employ.

When 21-year-old Sam Querrey found himself up one set and leading 5-2 in the second set, there was a feeling that Querrey was driving a sports car off into the sunset. All Querrey had to do was keep his foot on the accelerator and he'd reach his destination.

Cilic at this point, seemed little more than an afterthought. A quiet objector that was soon to be forgotten.

But somewhere along the road, Querrey stopped to put the top down and fully enjoy his Wimbledon moment. Perhaps he felt that his work was done and he could just coast to victory. Perhaps he was tired and thought this was a perfect moment to take a breather.

Whatever the reason, this was his big mistake; the psychological gaffe that led to the the unravelling of circumstances that he shouldn't have had to face.

There is a certain instinct that the "Greats" have, call it a special ability to see the future, vision if you will. It is something that tells them to strangle the life out of a half-dead opponent, and to make sure that he breathes no more. True champions have this killer instinct, and that is why they can, at times, be boring to watch.

But Querrey, green as a summer squash and lacking the nerve to kill, seemed content to prolong the ride.

Instead of opening a vitally important internal dialogue with himself—the one where he convinces himself that this is the time for his best tennis—he fell asleep at the wheel.

Querrey should have been saying to himself the following words, "Sam...you passed on a USC scholarship for this! You are kicking the snot out of this guy...choke him out and break his will...keep doing what you've been doing except now do it with more conviction...this match is yours!"

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