1. The 15-Second Principle

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The date was July 5, 1975. The place was Wimbledon, England. Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors were
about to meet each other in the finals of the most prestigious tennis event in the world. The odds in Las
Vegas heavily favored Connors. Jimmy had won Wimbledon the previous year, and he had never lost to
Ashe (3–0). In addition, Jimmy hadn't dropped one set in the entire tournament (six previous matches). In
the semifinals, Connors had crushed Roscoe Tanner 6–4, 6–1, 6–4. Tanner had one of the fastest and most
devastating serves in the game. Jimmy handled his powerful serve with ease. On a grass surface, this is
extremely difficult. The harder Roscoe served the ball, the faster Jimmy returned it. It was apparent to
everyone that Connors was playing brilliant tennis.
Ashe, on the other hand, had more difficulty in his ascent to the finals. In the semifinals he'd outlasted
Tony Roche 5–7, 6–4, 7–5, 8–9, 6–4. Although it wasn't smooth sailing, Arthur's main weapons—a fast
serve, powerful ground strokes, and great volleys—had kept coming through for him.
At some point, just before the finals began, a reality jolted Ashe. He realized that he was going to lose to
Connors if he used the same strokes and strategies that had gotten him to the finals. He would once again
come up short if he pitted his strengths against Connors's. Jimmy would take Arthur's power and turn it
against him.
It was at this point that Ashe had the courage to become adaptive. He abandoned his usual way of
winning, because it was not appropriate for this specific situation. He exchanged an offensive strategy for a
defensive one by replacing a power game with a risky game of finesse. Rather than trying to overwhelm
Jimmy with his fast serve, Arthur spun his serves wide, favoring Jimmy's two-handed backhand. Instead of
hitting his ground strokes with power, Ashe slowed things down and used more slice (which keeps the ball
bouncing very low on a grass surface). The result was the biggest victory of Ashe's career. He beat
Connors 6–1, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4.
Ashe never lost sight of his goal: winning the finals at Wimbledon. He wasn't attached to the way he was
going to accomplish this. Rather than applying his strengths, he looked to see what Connors's weaknesses
were and then attempted to exploit them. He was flexible, resourceful,