Andre Agassi reveals a principle of excellence:

This is Andre Agassi speaks in relation to a competitor spitting on him after Agassi won a match:

"We all make choices every day on how we choose to conduct ourselves...What I do watch and admire is the competitiveness of his game. And I find when I am out there against him, I need to step up because of what he brings, not because of how he chooses to conduct himself".

So that is to say he focuses on the technique of his opponent, rather than the moral conduct?

Fascinating!

So I think this is quite a powerful principle you’re talking about here. In personal terms he is teaching that if we want to be excellence, we must do two things:

- ignore completely the morals of your opponent.
- all you need to do is focus on the technique of your opponent, in order to be excellent.

By focusing on the technique of our opponent, by admiring and respecting it even when it is immoral we comes to see it not as a problem but as an opportunity for excellence.

That’s a pretty sophisticated shift Agassi is talking about. It shows a great deal of subtlety.