Transcript 0:00 I just felt like no matter what I've done, if I retired today, I would kind of feel like a failure. And I was like, "Yeah, but I never won a Slam." I just was finally to the point where I said, "I don't care anymore. 0:11 Like, I'm just gonna play tennis how I wanna play it, and whatever happens, happens." And then I won the Australian Open. 0:18 [laughs] There's a passage in the Bible where the scribes from Jerusalem try to discredit Jesus by saying, "How can Satan drive out Satan?" In other words, they were calling Jesus Satan. 0:30 But Jesus was a bit too smart for them, and he replied, "No man can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property without first tying up the strong man." 0:40 In other words, whether it be a team, a group, or just ourselves, most danger comes from within. There is a demon lurking within us all, and it takes the strong man to withstand the demon. 0:55 But let the demon claim a foothold, and the strongest of men is brought to their knees. Madison Keys won the Australian Open at the age of 29. She'd been told from the age of 11 that she would win a Grand Slam. 1:11 She turned professional at 14, and she had talent to burn. She made the final of the 2017 US Open and was hot favorite against the young teenager Sloane Stephens. Keys should have won, but the demons came. 1:27 The demons took hold of the strong man and tied him up and then let loose nerves and doubt. In a minute over an hour, Keys was left battered and bruised, finishing second after only winning three games in two sets. 1:42 Her talent didn't desert her. She just couldn't use it because the demon had tied her talent up. 1:49 In 2023, Keys played the world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinal of the US Open and flogged her 6-0 in the first set. 2:01 Then the demons took over the strong man, and Keys lost 0-6, 7-6, 7-6. Sabalenka said she saw Keys hesitate and took advantage. In other words, she noticed the moment the demons took over. 2:18 That loss took a long time for Keys to recover from, a long time to heal the mental scars. When the opportunity had come, her courage failed her. The strong man let the demons tie him up. 2:32 So what would cause a player of such talent to allow this to happen? The main reason is expectation and the measuring of success. 2:41 For so long, she thought the only way she could be a success was to win a Grand Slam title. If she didn't, she felt she was a failure. 2:51 Keys went to therapy to try and give the strong man the tools to repel the demon when he came. See, every strong man has a weakness, and the first thing that they must do to fix it is admit it's there. 3:04 The first thing an alcoholic must do to stop drinking is admit that they're an alcoholic. By not admitting it, the strong man inside thinks they are in control, but they're not. Keys had everything in place. 3:19 She had talent. She had training. She had routine. But what she was missing was one ingredient. She started digging into how she felt about herself with complete and open honesty, 3:32 something she admits was really hard, extremely hard, because the strong man thinks it is a sign of weakness. 3:41 One of rugby league's great coaches, Jack Gibson, said if a player was happy off the field, it helped his performance. 3:47 He believed that if a player was happy, he wasn't distracted and could give his all to training and the game. 3:53 His philosophy was that you couldn't expect a player to turn up and play well on Sunday if they were affected by things that distracted them during the week. 4:03 Many years ago, a university in America recruited a talented young basketballer to their program. He was from a small town and very shy. 4:13 And after a couple of weeks, his form tapered off, and he told them he was homesick and he wanted to go home. Fortunately, someone was able to earn the young man's trust, and he told them what the problem was. 4:25 The bed in his dormitory was a regulation bed, and the young man was nearly seven foot tall, and so he was forced to sleep with his knees either tucked up under his chin or, or his feet hanging over the edge. 4:38 The university bought an appropriate bed for his size, and the young man went in to play-- went on to play a leading role in the team's success over the following years. 4:48 Madison Keys went to that most uncomfortable place of all. She looked at herself with total honesty, laying herself bare by acknowledging all of her strengths and weaknesses. 4:59 Keys found the key to success was not winning a major, but by playing to her full potential. If you are honest with yourself and you play to your full potential and lose, you are satisfied. 5:13 Maybe not happy, because we all want to win, but you can live with the result. When the demons came in the third set of that Australian Open final, Keys found the strength to hold them off. 5:27 When the ti- time came to hold her nerve, the strong man was ready, and the title was hers. We think to be successful, we have to be seen to be successful by other people's judgment rather than our own. 5:40 Nicole Pratt was an Australian tennis player who played professionally for 17 years. She never won a Grand Slam and won only one WTA tour tournament. 5:50 She was at one point Australia's number one player and number 35 in the world. Many, if not most, people would think she was not successful because she did not win a Grand Slam. 6:02 Nicole Pratt was the best Australian women's tennis player at one point and 35th best in the world. Now, think of the pedestal we put the number one rugby league or AFL player on. We think they are legends and champions. 6:15 Now think of the 35th best player in the rugby league or AFL competition. 6:20 These two sports are played predominantly in Australia, whereas tennis is truly international, meaning to be the 35th best player in the world, you do so in comparison to the world, not just Australia. 6:32 Nicole Pratt was not the most talented tennis player, and she was not born with the physical gifts of some of her fellow competitors. She accepted her limitations and bought and scraped for everything she earned. 6:45 That made her a success. That allowed her to live with no regrets. If two players meet and both are able to keep the demons at bay, then the best will win. Both are successful. 6:58 One will be happier than the other, but when emotions recede, they will both know they gave their all. 7:04 The only way you can keep the demons away is to get the strong man inside you to admit what their weakness is and then get help with it. 7:12 By doing so, you arm the strong man with the tools to hold the demons at bay when they come, and they will come. 7:22 [grunts] [ball whacking] [laughs] She's done it. Madison Keys is a major champion. 7:37 [crowd cheering] [upbeat music]
