As thrilling as it is to watch our favorite sportspersons weave their magic on the courts, and on the tracks, there is a lot that goes in the making of those couple of hours of gameplay. Success in any field is more than just about the joys of winning. It’s about the lessons learned from the losses, and the hard work, passion and discipline it takes to get there. And much like what most of us experience in our careers and lives, even in an individual sport like tennis or Formula One, it’s never just about that one person, like they say, it takes a whole village.
At Confluence 2022, two-time tennis Grand Slam champion Garbiñe Muguruza and 13-time Grand Prix winner, Formula One driver David Coulthard shed light on their journey into the world of sports, the role of technology in sports and what’s next.
Key Takeaways
A Winning Mindset
It’s not something you just activate on game day. It’s every day, at every practice. And it all begins in the mind. At the end of every day, you need to feel like you’ve done everything you could have, to the best of your abilities.
Losses are the Biggest Opportunity
If you’ve only ever won, how do you improve on your success? Losses are teaching moments that give you an opportunity to reflect on your performance, overcome your shortcomings and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Going from Analog to Data-driven
From logging in data for every shot hit and every turn taken to analyzing critical issues and taking real-time action, data is now an important member of the team in both tennis and F1 that’s changing the way the players learn, strategize and perform.
The Next Opportunity
It’s all about finding the next opportunity. Whether it’s making the next best, most-fuel efficient car or discovering new paths to perform, the way to do this is by coming together as a team and constantly looking for ways to make things a little bit better.
I think the key is humans, no matter how wonderful technology we have, it all is driven by innovation that comes from the human mind. And, even with AI and self-learning going forward, this will still be improved because of human beings.
