You need not manage hurt; you need to keep playing on. Two things: one, there must be fun in the game; secondly, there must be a subtle pride at stake. Believe me, there is no player worth his name who has not played in pain, not played through pain. Believe me, it is not possible.
A Wimbledon semi-final or final lasting five hours, six hours, over five sets—do you think the players are free of pain? First of all, there is pleasure when the strings meet the ball; secondly, I said, there is that subtle pride at stake: there is the pride of winning against the body—not the opponent’s body, your own body.
I had to unlearn a lot of things, and I am grateful to all the sources—the books, the people and the experiences that helped me unlearn. And I am grateful to that within me that had the courage to unlearn. A lot of unlearning is needed. I often say you need to learn love. By that what I mean is that you need to unlearn false love. And it’s one mighty task to unlearn false love, transactional love, the transactional love that both biology and society teach you.
Hurt is not automatic. Somewhere there is an admission from you that you are hurt, and that you would be hurt, and that you would call yourself as hurt. Don’t call yourself as hurt, and see what happens.
Hurt is not an obligation. Hurt is a choice. Insecurity, fear, temptations—none…
Have you looked at kids playing? If you look at kids playing and if you look at animals playing, you won’t find much difference. In fact, human kids go along very well with animal kids. Later on, when we cover ourselves with a lot of acquired knowledge, with a lot…
