THE ART OF FAILURE

T
h e re was a mom e n t , in the third
and deciding set of the 1993 Wi mbl e d on fin a l ,when Jana Novotna seemed
i nv i n c i b l e . She was leading 4–1 and
s e rving at 40–30, meaning that she was
one point from winning the game, a n d
just five points from the most cove t e d
ch a m p i onship in tennis. She had just
hit a backhand to her oppon e n t , St e f fi
G ra f, that skimmed the net and landed
s o a b ru p t ly on the far side of the court
that Gra f could on ly watch , i n fla t -
footed fru s t ra t i on . The stands at Center Court were pack e d . The Duke and
Du chess of Kent were in their customa ry place in the royal box . Novotna was
in white, poised and con fid e n t , h e r
b l ond hair held back with a headband—and then something happened.
She served the ball straight into the
n e t . She stopped and steadied hers e l f for the second serve—the toss,t h e
a rch of the back—but this time it was
w o r s e . Her swing seemed halfheart e d ,
a ll arm and no legs and torso. D o u b l e
f a u l t . On the next point, she was slow
to react to a high shot by Gra f, a n d
b a dly missed on a forehand voll ey.
At game point, she hit an ove rh e a d
s t raight into the net. Instead of 5 – 1 ,i t
was now 4–2. G ra f to serve : an easy
v i c t o ry, 4 – 3 . Novotna to serve . Sh e
w a s n’t tossing the ball high enough.
Her head was dow n . Her move m e n t s
had slowed mark e dly. She doublefaulted on c e, tw i c e, t h ree times. Pu ll e d
wide by a Gra f f o re h a n d , Novotna ine x p l i ca b ly hit a low, flat shot dire c t ly
at Gra f, instead of a high cro s s c o u rt
f o rehand that would have given her
time to get back into position :4 – 4 .D i d
she suddenly re a l i ze how terri f yi n g ly
close she was to victory? Did she remember that she had never won a
major tournament before? Did she
l o ok across the net and see St e f fi G ra f —
St e f fiG ra f !—the greatest playe r o f h e r
g e n e ra t i on ?
On the baseline, awaiting Gra f’s
s e rve, Novotna was now visibly agit a t e d , ro cking back and fort h , j u m p -
ing up and dow n . She talked to hers e l f under her bre a t h . Her eyes dart e d
a round the court . G ra f t o ok the game
at love ; Nov o t n a , m oving as if in slow
m o t i on , did not win a single point: 5 – 4 ,
G ra f. On the sidelines, Novotna wiped
her racquet and her face with a tow e l ,
and then each finger individually. It
was her turn to serve . She missed a ro utine voll ey wide,s h o ok her head,t a l k e d
to herself. She missed her first serve,
made the secon d , t h e n , in the re s u l t -
ing ra lly, mis-hit a backhand so badly
that it sailed off her racquet as if l a u n ch e d
into fli g h t . Novotna was unre c o g n i za b l e, not an élite tennis player but a beginner again. Sh ewas crumbling under
p re s s u re, but exactly why was as baffli n g
to her as it was to all those looking on .
I s n’t pre s s u re supposed to bring out
the best in us? We try hard e r. We conce n t rate hard e r.We get a boost of a d re na l i n e . We ca re more about how well
we perf o rm . So what was happening
to her?

At ch a m p i onship point,Novotna hit
a low, ca u t i o u s ,a n ds h a ll ow lob to Gra f.
G ra f a n s w e red with an unre t u rn -
able ove rhead smash, a n d , m e rc i f u lly,
it was ove r. St u n n e d , Novotna moved
to the net. G ra f kissed her tw i c e . At
the awards cere m ony, the Du chess of
Kent handed Novotna the ru n n e r - u p’s
t ro phy, a small silver plate, and whisp e red something in her ear, and what
Novotna had done fin a lly caught up
with her. T h e re she was,s w e a ty and exh a u s t e d , l o oming over the delica t e
w h i t e - h a i red Du chess in her pearl
n e ck l a c e . The Du chess re a ched up
and pulled her head down onto her
s h o u l d e r, and Novotna started to sob.
H
uman beings sometimes falter
under pre s s u re . Pilots crash and
d i vers drow n . Under the glare of c omp e t i t i on ,b a s k e tb a ll players cannot fin d
the basket and go l fers cannot find the
p i n . When that happens, we say vario u s ly that people have “p a n i ck e d” o r, t o
use the sports coll o q u i a l i s m ,“ch ok e d . ”
But what do those words mean? Both
a re pejora t i ve s . To ch oke or panic is
c on s i d e red to be as bad as to quit. B u t
a re all forms of f a i l u re equal? And what
do the forms in which we fail say about
who we are and how we think? We live
in an age obsessed with success, w i t h
documenting the myriad ways by which
talented people ove rc ome ch a ll e n g e s