5 Things I Learned From The 2019 Laver Cup

Sept. 27, 2019

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Unless you’ve been living under a moldy rock, you know that the Laver Cup was held last weekend in Switzerland.

Here are 5 things I learned by watching all of it:

1. If you love sports, it doesn’t get better than Laver Cup. Admittedly, it’s not always easy to watch sports anymore. Bad people acting badly is everywhere, and the corporate commercial breaks are way too out of hand. What once may have been “can’t-miss” has become “let’s go ride a bike instead.” But not Laver Cup. You want fanatical crowds? Laver Cup crowds are so loud it hurts the players ears. You want exciting competition? The format is structured so every little thing matters. There’s no break in the drama until it’s over (and, in this year’s case, it was decided until the very, very end). You want to see amazing athletes try harder than they’ve ever tried in their lives? You see that from the very first match. If you still care about sports, it’s the best thing going today.
2. It’s cool to try hard. Remember in school how it was cool to not do your homework? Remember how cool the quarterback looked when he acted like he didn’t care if he lost? Remember how cool it was to not brush your hair for a job interview because it was a stupid job anyway? Well, Laver Cup is the opposite of that. Ever vomited watching Nick Kyrgios tank a “meaningless” match? Not here. In this event, everybody tries hard all the time. Really, really hard. The players are screaming, their teammates on the bench are screaming, the crowd is screaming. Every match. It turns out it’s super cool to care about things. At least, it is at the Laver Cup.
3. Sometimes foul language isn’t so foul. We have to protect the children. Of course we do. We have to act with decency because we’re role models to the kids, and the kids are the future. Bad language sets a bad example. However. Sometimes there’s just no other way. Sometimes the situation gets so intense, no other words will suffice. Cuss words don’t have synonyms. So, when the Laver Cup came down to the very last tiebreak, when a weekend of stress and euphoria and depression was all to be decided by a simple race to 10 points, there was only one thing left to do. Alexander Zverev had just lost the 2nd set to Team World’s Milos Raonic and it was looking bleak. Alexander had struggled with confidence all year, and had performed horribly in his previous Laver Cup matches. And now he had just lost the set and everything was going to come down to him. And here’s what Federer said to him (with Nadal at his side), screamed actually, in the break before the finale, “I want a ‘let’s go!’ and a ‘come on!’ for every f—ing point you win. I don’t want to see any negative sh-t.” He screamed this (and other things) at him down the hallway, in the locker room, and all the way back out onto the court. Guess what happened? Zverev gave a ton of “come ons!” and didn’t show any negative sh–. And he won. Did those course words make the difference? “They [Federer & Nadal] were the ones that got me through that match definitely. I’ve been losing a lot of tight matches but I’m finally getting over it and I’m happy.”
4. Coach Federer and Coach Nadal are modern-day philosophical masters. First of all, where else would you see two all-time greats worth over $600 million coaching their peers as hard as they can? The answer is nowhere. And it’s the coolest thing on the planet. But more than that, where else could you find real-time wisdom that can change your life? The expletive-laden coaching Federer gave Zverev is some of the best advice we could ever hear. How do you succeed at life? Show some positivity for every good thing we get. Be violently thankful and excited for every win that occurs in our life. And don’t be negative. Ever. Don’t show it. Don’t allow it. Don’t complain. And never sulk. This is how you win 39 Majors and have $600 million in the bank. And it works in our lives too.
5. Being with someone is better than being alone. I’ve heard many people say, “If your [blank] is so valuable, why not just keep it for yourself?” Or put another way, why would Federer and Nadal share every bit of wisdom they have so that a peer/rival might win a match? Why wouldn’t they stand back, cheer politely, and keep their championship truisms to themselves? Because life a better with someone else. Hoarding doesn’t equal happiness. In fact, the more you share, the more you get in return. It’s easy to try to keep what we have by protecting it. The all-time champions at the Laver Cup showed us a better way.Everything is better when it’s shared. Everything is better when you care about someone else.

My book is called The Inevitability of Becoming Rich, and you can find that here.