Tennis Lessons
Wimbledon is under way. Roger Federer is not playing this year, but who didn’t love watching him play on that storied Centre Court?
Federer delivered Dartmouth College’s commencement address on June 9, 2024. As an alumna and big Roger fan, I watched it the next day on YouTube. His speech was phenomenal, with three takeaways for the new graduates:
- Effortless is a myth; even when someone makes something look easy, they have put a lot of time and energy in to make it appear that way.
- It is only a point; you will have failures in your life. That is one moment in time. Grieve the moment, then move along with a mindset of intensity, clarity, and focus.
- Life is bigger than the court; tennis could show him the world, but never be his world. He still wanted to travel, lead a life of service, and spend time with his family.
One of the things I have always admired about Federer is his willingness to try different things. As a child, he did not immediately gravitate toward tennis. He swam, played soccer and basketball, even dabbled in skiing. It was not until he was a teenager that he committed fully to tennis. He is a well-rounded, diverse athlete, and the skills he learned across sports allowed him to become the best male tennis player in the world for 310 weeks over the course of his career, 237 of those weeks consecutively.
I’d like to revisit his second lesson. Federer played 1,526 singles matches in his professional career. He won 1,251, over 80% of those matches. Think about that – over 1,250 wins, many against some of the greatest tennis players in my lifetime.
In all those matches, he only won 54% of points. When serving, he won 89% of his games, but when returning serve he only won 27% of games. Rather than letting the 46% of lost points or disparity between service and return weigh on him, he soldiered on towards his goal of victory in whichever tournament he was playing at the time.
According to the Bank of America, July is the best trading month for the stock market since 1928. Specifically, the first 10 days of the month positively influence returns the most. Perhaps a birthday gift to America? Looking more closely at those numbers, it is not attributable to any single day or stock, but rather a lack of any majorly negative days. Lower volatility and consistent small positive days add up.
Let’s draw a parallel to our investment principles. It is unrealistic to expect every holding in a portfolio to perform well one hundred percent of the time. It is equally unrealistic to try to always beat the benchmark. No one wins all their points all of the time. We will make mistakes and need to bounce back in order to manage a portfolio well.
However, one can still achieve their goals with consistency, clarity, and focus. A skillfully managed diversified portfolio historically helps smooth returns, and staying focused on goals when investments “lose a point” can achieve results.
Federer’s fourth lesson, right at the end of his speech, was a quick tutorial on the perfect forehand grip. I plan on practicing it a bit this summer – let me know if you need a mediocre tennis partner! And here’s a link if you would like to watch the speech for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqWUuYTcG-o
Grace LovelandJuly 5, 2024
Any opinions are those of Grace Loveland and not necessarily those of Raymond James. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and is not a complete description, nor is it a recommendation. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC
