The Art Of Failure

PERFORMANCE STUDIES

THE ART OF F AILURE
Why some people choke and others panic.
BY MALCOLM GLADWELL

Jana Novotna’s collapse at Wimbledon was as baffling to her as it was to onlookers.
here was a moment, in the third and deciding set of the 1993 Wimbledon final, when Jana Novotna seemed invincible. She was leading 4–1 and serving at 40–30, meaning that she was one point from winning thegame, and just five points from the most coveted championship in tennis. She had just hit a backhand to her opponent, Steffi Graf, that skimmed the net and landed so abruptly on the far side of the court that Graf could only watch, in flatfooted frustration. The stands at Center Court were packed. The Duke and Duchess of Kent were in their customary place in the royal box. Novotna was in white, poisedand confident, her blond hair held back with a headband—and then something happened. She served the ball straight into the net. She stopped and steadied herself for the second serve—the toss, the arch of the back—but this time it was worse. Her swing seemed halfhearted, all arm and no legs and torso. Double fault. On the next point, she was slow

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to react to a high shot by Graf, and badlymissed on a forehand volley. At game point, she hit an overhead straight into the net. Instead of 5 – 1 ,i t was now 4–2. Graf to serve: an easy victory, 4–3. Novotna to serve. She wasn’t tossing the ball high enough. Her head was down. Her movements had slowed markedly. She doublefaulted once, twice, three times. Pulled wide by a Graf forehand, Novotna inexplicably hit a low, flat shot directly atGraf, instead of a high crosscourt forehand that would have given her time to get back into position:4–4.Did she suddenly realize how terrifyingly close she was to victory? Did she remember that she had never won a major tournament before? Did she look across the net and see Steffi Graf— SteffiGraf !—the greatest player of her generation? On the baseline, awaiting Graf ’s serve, Novotna was nowvisibly agitated, rocking back and forth, jumping up and down. She talked to her-

self under her breath. Her eyes darted around the court. Graf took the game at love; Novotna, moving as if in slow motion, did not win a single point: 5–4, Graf. On the sidelines, Novotna wiped her racquet and her face with a towel, and then each finger individually. It was her turn to serve. She missed a routine volleywide, shook her head, talked to herself. She missed her first serve, made the second, then, in the resulting rally, mis-hit a backhand so badly that it sailed off her racquet as if launched into flight. Novotna was unrecognizable, not an élite tennis player but a beginner again. She was crumbling under pressure, but exactly why was as baffling to her as it was to all those looking on. Isn’t pressuresupposed to bring out the best in us? We try harder. We concentrate harder. We get a boost of adrenaline. We care more about how well we perform. So what was happening to her? At championship point, Novotna hit a low, cautious,andshallow lob to Graf. G ra f a n s w e red with an unre t u rn able overhead smash, and, mercifully, it was over. Stunned, Novotna moved to the net. Graf kissed her twice.At the awards ceremony, the Duchess of Kent handed Novotna the runner-up’s trophy, a small silver plate, and whispered something in her ear, and what Novotna had done finally caught up with her. There she was, sweaty and exhausted, looming over the delicate white-haired Duchess in her pearl necklace. The Duchess reached up and pulled her head down onto her shoulder, and Novotna started to sob.uman beings sometimes falter under pressure. Pilots crash and divers drown. Under the glare of competition,basketball players cannot find the basket and golfers cannot find the pin. When that happens, we say variously that people have “panicked” or, to use the sports colloquialism, “choked.” But what do those words mean? Both are pejoratives. To choke or panic is considered to be as bad as to quit....