We all know that Andy Murray is an extremely skilled tennis player with numerous achievements – such as a three-time Grand Slam winner, two-time Olympic champion, and the Association of Tennis Professionals number 1 ranked male player for 41 weeks in 2016 and 2017.
So, why are we, at Thinkster Math, concerned about this? Apart from the fact that you cannot play tennis if you cannot keep score in 15, 30 and 40 intervals (whoever came up with that scoring?), at first blush, you would think that there is really no connection between Andy Murray and Thinkster Math. Would you?
Actually, there is.
Andy Murray is and was a talented tennis player since 2006. There was nothing wrong with him, except for the fact that he was constantly in the limelight for not having won a grand slam event – until 2012 that is. Before that, it was always – “can Andy Murray ever win a grand slam?” After winning the U.S. Open in 2012, it was – “Oh – that probably was a one-time event….but can he win the one that counts – Wimbledon – in his home country?”
We did not think so. Ivan Lendl did not think so. Andy Murray definitely did not think so. That’s why he hired Ivan Lendl to begin with. Not because he did not know how to play tennis, but because he wanted someone to coach him by observing him play. To find out something about himself that he can have Lendl point out. So that he can get better.
Learning is about getting better. Getting better at tennis, math, piano, talking, acting…and I can go on and on. It does not matter what it is that you are learning, but to get better, you have to understand two things. One is that you are that you need to get better. Second is that someone else is that you need to get better. They can be your teacher because they have and and have a baseline to refer your performance against. This baseline is typically about measurement and data, and its all about learning! Learning about what do well, what struggle with, what need to improve upon. Did you notice that it was all about ?
