Notes

1. Reading about how Agassi and Baghdatis were both in pain during their match reminded me of the final stretch of my senior year. I'd been valedictorian for all three years so far; I didn't think about it much at the beginning (I didn't even expect class rank to be a thing because my middle school didn't do it), but now that I'd kept the rank every year, I didn't want to lose it at the last moment. I did schoolwork through the pain of sleep deprivation and didn't slack off even though that would have been so easy. Whatever my final assignment was, I probably procrastinated on it, then aced it. It would be cringe if I was the only one thinking about rank but I knew the salutatorian cared; he literally turned down somebody's compliment on his intelligence saying that someone was ranked above him (or so I've heard). Later, I read his salutatorian speech. In his Google Doc edit history he had a deleted line that went something like "Even though I was one off I'm here with you today." Bro, it isn't embarrassing to not be first!!! He also changed the word "empty" to "blurry" in reference to his memories of high school. Despite these revisions, his final speech was still quite depressing; he talked about losing sight of what's truly important due to pressuring himself about achieving a title. It must have been difficult for him to do schoolwork too if he was depressed about his rank. For me it was procrastination that made it hard. (Agassi's emphasis on contradiction is so valid. I don't even hate studying like he did tennis, I actually genuinely enjoy learning, so why do I constantly have trouble bringing myself to start assignments?) As I was reading about Agassi's match I thought it was insane that it wasn't a competition of skill but of how well they coped with their injuries. Maybe it's obvious to anyone who watches sports, but I was surprised to realize that winning can be determined by endurance of pain rather than one's peak skill level. Now that I've made the connection to my senior year, though, it totally makes sense. That's kind of funny. Maybe this is just how life is.