Agree completely, Ru-an! I am pumped and very optimistic about Roger’s chances. I talk about the draw endlessly. But ultimately, like you, I don’t have expectations. I’m very grateful for all he has given us this year already. It’s not realistic to have high expectations for Roger at this stage of his career, even with a soft draw. But if he pulls it off, well and good. If not, it’s not the end of the world. “Focus on what you have and not focus on lack”. Good one, Ru-an!

Oh, Ru-an, LOVE the outfits especially Darth Federer! That practice white Betterer t-shirt and blue shorts are so awesome too, Ru-an, totally agree with you!!!

Ru-an no matter how much Fed gives his fans will always want more, but he’s such a class act it’s natural to want him to win…but win or lose how can you not but admire him! Still C’mon Roger x

Completly agree Ruan as much we love watching Roger play if he dosent win any tournament barring clay and miami its a disopintment…The draw is just peRFect..i am hooked for two weeks now..

This is how I feel about Roger’s unfinished business in New York:

In Australia, Roger has won 4 Titles. Yes it could have been 5 but it feels like he has closed that chapter.

After the crushing defeat to Nadal in 2009, Roger came back and won in 2010. He has lost in the next 4 years always in the Semi-Finals, including two losses to Nadal (2012 and 2014) but in both cases, Nadal didn’t go on to win the tournament. Therefore, Roger can claim that he is the more recent of the two champions in Australia.

Roger won the only French Open separating the 9 GS that Nadal has won there. He took advantage of the only door that was left open and that’s good enough. Yes, he made the 2011 Final as well but to me the memorable performance there was the Epic Semi-Final against Djokovic snapping his unbeaten streak. Therefore, Roger can feel like the chapter there can be closed as well.

At Wimbledon, Roger avenged the 2008 loss to Nadal by winning in 2009. Then Nadal won it again in 2010, and Roger was able to win it yet again in 2012, therefore also becoming the more recent champion there. The epic way in which Roger won his 7th Wimbledon Title, and returning back to Number 1 was the Ultimate. Yes, he could have won his 8th and he may yet have one more chance, but being in 9 Finals is an amazing feat, and the way he fought in that final was simply mesmerizing. He could close the chapter at Wimbledon with no regrets.

Finally, the US Open. 2008 was such a long time ago. So is 2009. I was there in the Final, when against all odds, Del Potro stole Roger’s 6th US Open title. At the time, there was this sense of nostalgia, as if the book wasn’t closed the way it should have been. Then in 2010 and in 2011, Roger was stopped from getting into the finals yet again. Maybe, the fates didn’t want him to face Nadal, and maybe he’ll thank them later. Nadal is the most recent champion in New York and that has to be corrected!

It brings us now to the 2014 US Open. An amazing draw! No Nadal! Djokovic appears weak. Murray and Wawrinka are both in Djokovic’s section.

Roger is playing amazing, and not just as of late. If you look at it – ALL year apart from the Rome/ French Open stretch, Roger has played very consistently.

Roger has been in 8 Finals. No one can match this feat this year. He has the most Top 10 wins of all players. (12:4) and is 2:2 with Djokovic.

He is ranked 3rd by the ATP at Most Service Games Held All Year.

There are three keys to this revival:

The New Pro Staff RF 97 Racquet
Healthy and Confident Roger
Stefan Edberg

Roger is playing efficient, aggressive, fluid tennis. I’ll let Ru-an delve into the details here but it’s all true.

And then one final thing. Darth Federer is coming back! He was here back in 2009 and now he is back to finish the job.

Roger lost the All-White Final at Wimbledon but will win the US Open with the All-Black Outfit.

If for some reason, Roger does come short, it will not be the end of the world – just a huge opportunity missed. The season will still be very positive for Roger but we all sense that Roger is on the VERGE of greatness.

We swallowed all these defeats – in Brisbane, in Australia to Nadal, in Indian Wells to Djokovic in the 3rd set Tie-Break, at the Monte-Carlo Masters after leading Wawrinka, at Wimbledon after the Epic comeback, and in Toronto after forcing the tie-break against Tsonga.

I sense that if Roger could trade all these losses and titles for the US Open, he’d do it. And it looks like, that might very well be the case.

I’m excited as ever for this year’s US Open. There will be some peaks and valleys along the way, some surprises as well, but I am confident that Roger will stand victorious in the end.. I haven’t felt like this in a long time.. If there is destiny in sports, then this is it! #18

Agree with you! from. Ow on, everything is GRAVY for Roger. And we all celebrate with him each step of the way!

Very good post, Ru-an, with lots of common sense, I like. Thank You! Both day/night attire I like, too. “Betterer” t-shirt is a hit….Roger will always be a winner in my heart…wish him Good Luck at USOpen, one match at a time.
Anxious for the tournament to get started…..
Kindly,
Dolores

We’ll see I guess. I have a lot if question marks for Djokovic. Everybody assumes that he’ll make the finals but I am not so sure.

He has been in 5 US Open Fina while Roger has been in 6.

Roger had a Run of 8 straight SFs (2004-2011) while Novak also had a run of 8 straight – (2006-2013). So I don’t know.

It would be impressive if Novak makes it to the finals with the tough draw he has. But I am just not so sure. Murray and Tsonga are very hungry and they want to do something here. I also feel that Wawrinka may show up as well. Let’s not forget that he beat Novak in Australia and that he also lost a 5 setter last year at the Open.

I don’t think that Novak is rolling into the final. He’s had a great year but the combination of marriage/ kids/ winning Wimbledkn will result in a meltdown. If he makes it to the final, I’ll be very impressed and nervous at the same time.

Let’s hope that Roger makes it as well and just go guns blazing. Let’s not forget that the Wimbledon Final was decided in the 3rd set Tie-break which went Novak’s way.. They also have a 5-th set tie-break at the Open. I hope it doesn’t come to that!

Sorry to hype up the situation even more guys

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/08/stars-spell-roger/52502/

beautiful ruan. for the past the.lesson I have been working on is what you wrote. grateful,abundance, appreciation are the keys to happiness for me regardless of what life gives you moment to moment. Joe, Joseph cambells heroes journey is the fundamental structure for just about everything I write. love from Shanghai guys.

Yay!!! The schedule is out and I am happy! Here’s why:

1. Djokovic will play Monday and then potentially on Thursday (US Open spreads the 1st round over 3 days), then Saturday, then Monday, then Wednesday, Saturday and then Monday (if he gets that far)

2. Roger will most likely play Tuesday, then Friday, then Sunday, then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and then Monday! )

I am happy because this schedule puts the spotlight on Djokovic first and then it will allow Roger to see what he does first and then do one better.

Also, for purely selfish reasons, my wife bought us tickets for that Thursday (4th of September) so I’ll definitely be able to see Roger play!

In any case, I think that it’s a good schedule. It will allow Roger to kinda find his game in the 1st week with 2 days inbetween his 1st and 2nd round and then really get into the tournament with only a day between each match which would be fine for him since he’ll be able to get into a rhythm.

By the way, I liked his pressed today because he looks grounded, maybe slightly nervous but what he said about not getting ahead of himself was spot on! )

Hey Ruan!

Another quick and superficial summary is coming your way now! Joseph Campbell is more interesting and relevant today than any summary of mine can explain, but here goes:

First of all, The Power of Myth is a good book for a busy professional to start with, for an introduction to Campbell and his work.

Hero With a Thousand Faces is a deep and scholarly work almost 400 pages long, that required a lot of study on my part. It was so much more than worth it (!), and I also have to admit that my own blind spots may have had a lot to do with the amount of work required! But Campbell unifies psychology, mythology, art, science, and religion in this amazing book, so I should have known I would have to stretch myself at some points.

Please note first of all that ‘Hero,’ summarizing 90% of the world’s mythology or more, is actually about each person’s life.

Campbell considered a culture’s myths, just as he would consider art, music, scientific discovery, religious thought, etc. to be reflections of unconscious psyche. He said that his purpose in writing this book was to uncover some of the deep truths ‘disguised under the figures of religion and mythology.’

He starts the book by pointing out in an indirect way how many of us who haven’t encountered ego death are actually living out myths unconsciously. This is, in my understanding, how psychoanalysts approach their patients on some level – by determining what myths they don’t realize they’re living out. Carl Jung talks about this in Man and His Symbols as well. But there’s some work to do to get through the early pages.

In any event, here’s the point of the book as I see it: I think Campbell would say that every human life is a hero’s journey. The journey will result in the inevitable death of the hero; but out of that death, there can arise an authentic human being.

This is also one of the foundational points of life as Joe sees things: Ego death is absolutely necessary for spiritual rebirth. “When our day is come for the victory of death, death closes in; there is nothing we can do, except be crucified – and resurrected; dismembered totally, and then reborn,” as Campbell says. So I think this is a healthful way to deal with unfortunate circumstances that occur in our lives, and I can’t emphasize that enough. We have to die to a tragedy in order to be reborn; if we don’t, we live that tragedy again and again, every day of our lives.

Campbell steps back in the early going to make this remark about the Greek plays of tragedy and comedy: “Tragedy is the shattering of the forms [forms = basically the world of objects, the sensory veil (of polar opposites) that hides our minds from deeper reality – Joe] and of our attachment to the forms; comedy, the wild and careless, inexhaustible joy of life invincible. Thus the two are the terms of a single mythological theme and experience which includes them both and which they bound: the down-going and up-coming (kathodos and anodos), which together constitute the totality of the revelation that is life, and which the individual must know and love if he is to be purged of the contagion of sin and death. All things are changing; nothing dies…”

The bulk of the book is dedicated to a description of the phases of the hero’s journey as we encounter it in myth. But these phases correspond with steps in the process Carl Jung calls individuation. I want to note that he gives careful attention to the teachings of the Christ and the Buddha.

Campbell’s prose is beautiful, but some of his sentences are an entire paragraph long! I do want to give a sample I think is relevant:
“Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be one with all the world.”

Looking at what I’ve written, I think I may have gone on too long already! I know I have a tendency to do that… but I’ve also done very little to describe this vast and symphonic book. Eric and any others who may be familiar with Hero, please add any comments you think will help about the volumes of depth I haven’t mentioned.

For anyone this summary offends, please accept my sincere apologies! If you’ll tell me so, I’ll try my best to explain and/or make amends.

Best Regards,
Joe

Joe, you’ve done an excellent job. Yesterday my writing partner and I met with scholars all afternoon to try to uncover Chinese mythology such that we may apply these exact principles to our screenplay and have them resonate with the Chinese the way European mythology resonates with western audiences. Think King Arthur, Cinderella, etc. countless movies have recreated these myths. The fascinating thing is that it was extremely difficult for them to identify Chinese mythology. We are gathering elements and symbols that we can include in our story but still haven’t found full mythology. Joe if you are aware of any I would love to hear about it. If you don’t mind, perhaps Ru-an could connect us via email so we don’t hijack the tennis conversation too much. Btw Joe, Ru-an is a very deep guy who at one point was simultaneously blogging on topics such as these.