effortless is a myth I mean it I say it as someone who has heard that word a lot effortless people would say my play was effortless most of the time they meant it as a compliment but it used to frustrate me when they would say he barely broke a sweat or he's even trying the truth is I had to work very hard to make it look easy everybody can play well the first two hours you're fit you're fast you're clear and after 2 hours your legs get w your mind starts wandering and your discipline starts

to fade it made me understand I have so much work ahead of me and I'm ready to go on this journey I get it you can work harder than you thought possible and still lose I have many times tennis is brutal there's no getting around the fact that every tournament ends the same way one player gets a trophy every other player gets back on a plane stares out of the window and thinks how to hell that I missed that shot imagine if today only one of you got a degree congratulation this year's graduate let's give

her a hand the rest of you the other 10,000 of you better luck next time so you know I tried not to lose but I did lose sometimes big for me one of the biggest was the finals at Wimbledon in 2008 me versus Nadal some call it the greatest match of all time time okay all respect to Rafa but I think it would have been way way better if I had won when you're playing a point it has to be the most important thing in the world and it is but when it's behind you it's

behind you this mindset is really crucial because it frees you to fully commit to the next point at the next point after that with intensity Clarity and focus the truth is whatever game you play in life sometimes you're going to lose a point a match a season a job it's a roller coaster with many ups and downs and it's natural when you're down to doubt yourself and to feel sorry for yourself and by the way your opponents have self-doubt too don't ever forget that but negative energy is wasted energy you want to become a master

at overcoming hard moments that is to me the sign of a champion the best in the world they're not the best because they win every point it's because they know they lose again and again and have learned how to deal with it you accept it cry it out if you need to and then force a smile is bigger than the court a tennis court is a small space 2,16 square feet to be exact that's for singles matches not much bigger than a dorm room I can make that three or four dorm rooms in Mass row

I worked a lot learned a lot and ran a lot of miles in that small space but the world is a whole lot bigger than that even when I was just starting out I knew that tennis could show me the world but tennis could never be the world I knew that if I was lucky maybe I could play competitively until my late 30s maybe even 41 but even when I was in the top five it was important to me to have a life a rewarding life full of travel culture friendships and especially family I never

abandoned my roots I never forgot where I came from but I also NE never lost my appetite to to see the very big world [Music] [Applause]