Andy Murray: How to Learn From Losses

A note to young leaders.

Every human being is a hundred stories constantly unfolding. So it should not surprise us that some of them overlap.

Ivan Lendl lost his first four grand slam finals. That he lost them to legends such as Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors counted for nothing; the press labelled him a choker – and the label followed him like a stray dog.

Then, in the 1984 French Open final, he found himself two sets down to John McEnroe. Up in the press box, the headlines were already being written. But Lendl refused to wilt. He won the next three sets, broke the hoodoo and went on to win another seven grand slam titles.

Cue Andy Murray in 2012. Murray had lost four grand slam finals, to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic no less – but the old word was being retrieved from storage. To add to the pressure, Britain had not produced a grand slam men’s champion in 76 years. Here was a superb player, marooned in the wrong era, and the diagnosis was familiar: something missing inside.

Murray sought out Lendl.

What he wanted was someone who understood not just how to win, but what it was like to be told that you never would. It helped that neither man had ever been accused of excessive charisma; they understood each other instantly.

Lendl didn’t reinvent Murray’s forehand or his fitness routine. He told him: Losing four grand slam finals is not proof that you can’t win a grand slam. It’s proof that you’re on the cusp of doing so.

Four weeks after losing Wimbledon to Federer, Murray beat Federer on the same patch of grass for Olympic gold. That September in New York, he outlasted Djokovic in five sets to win the US Open. Like his coach, he had lost his first four finals and won his fifth.

Murray finished with three grand slams and two Olympic singles golds – the latter a feat not matched by Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

The feeling of being uniquely stuck is almost always a failure of research. Every problem you are facing has been faced before, by someone, somewhere.

So don’t just seek out successful people to ask them how they succeeded. Find the person who once failed in precisely the way you are failing now, and ask them how they found a way out.