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TLC Blog - Be Brave. Go For It.

Writer's picture: Neal HagbergNeal Hagberg

“Be brave. Go for it.” These were the inner words Madison Keys spoke to herself near the close of the finals of the tight-as-a-drum third set of the Australian Open against the #1 player in the world, and two-time defending champion.


As I watched her during this third set, the words that came to mind were, “She’s fearless.”


The funny thing is, she was brave, she was determined, but she wasn’t fearless. She was nervous. And, strangely, that acknowledgement helped her win.


We set ourselves up for failure when we think others around us have no fear, are always confident, never struggle. Because then we are alone in the world. Then we are the only one who is scared, who doubts, who wonders if they have the right stuff to get through to the other side.


But in her post-finals interview, after she had won her first ever Grand Slam, and after having been expected to do it and “failing” for the past 16 years since she was a child prodigy, Keys brought up the reason why. She stopped determining her value as a human being or tennis player by whether she ever won a Grand Slam at all. And, funny when that happened, the door opened for her to play for the love of the game which, win or lose, always bodes well for staying engaged.


So, she gave up the need for external accolades and stopped allowing other people to determine whether she was a “success”.


BUT #1: Even though she gave up the external accolades, it doesn’t mean the internal ones don’t still have their say in critical moments in our lives and our tennis games. Was she nervous when she got down to the end of the match? Yes, she was.


She called to mind how she had finally recently realized that every single great player (and not so great player) in tennis history (the ones she never thought got nervous) got very nervous in moments like these. What a comfort. She was like them. Or, maybe, they were like her.


So she took it in stride and said, in effect, “I’m nervous. So is my opponent. But I am not going to go down the way I did in the past. It will be over in a matter of minutes either way. So how do I want to go out?” And the words “Be brave. Go for it…”became her mantra.





She hit some of her best shots of the finals those last few games, some brave shots. BUT #2: “Be brave” does not mean “Be stupid”. She didn’t try shots she was incapable of. She didn’t try low percentage shots or try to pull out something magical. She tried the shots that got her to this point, and said, in effect, I am either going to win or I’m going to lose, but I am going to go for it with the strengths I have.


Be brave. Go for it. It doesn’t mean you will win. But it does mean you will have gone all out, put everything on the line, and let your strengths do what they do. Maybe your nerves will get the best of you. Maybe they won’t. But when you stop thinking about what might happen and focus on what is happening, you have a better chance of taming them and being brave and going for it.


What in your life right now, at this moment, do you need to say to yourself, “Be brave. Go for it.”


Here is my advice that I stole from a newly crowned Australian Open champion: “Be brave. Go for it.”



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