Why Roger Federer defies the Principle of Marginal Utility
There is this principle that we learn in management courses called the marginal utility principle. It states that the more you consume a good or a commodity, the satisfaction you obtain from the consumption of every additional unit decreases.
While almost everything in life follows this principle, there are a few exceptions as well. And when I sat and pondered if anything or anyone from the field I love, 'sports' could probably defy this principle of management, the first name that came to my mind is Roger Federer.
Now, to understand why this is true, we will have to first understand this- There are a few men in sport, and they are only a handful, who take sport watching to peaks not witnessed before.
These are men who take you to places you have not been to, and make you gape at them time and again in awe. And, if there is one man from Tennis who has converted the Sport into an art form, then it has to be Federer.
Just watch Federer on a Tennis court- as he glides effortlessly and conjures an ethereal drop shot or plays a magical single-handed backhand down the line drawing gasps from the opponent and the crowd, and you will slowly begin to realize that you are witnessing something that you have never witnessed before.
And, it has almost been two decades since the Swiss Maestro started playing professional Tennis. And through 20 glorious years, Federer has provided tennis fans around the world unbridled joy. He has made us forget all our troubles when we watched him in action, and his exploits on the Tennis court has provided us solace when we went through melancholic times in our lives.
He is now 37-an age when the likes of his kind have long retired to the comforts of the commentary box and taken us through a riveting journey. And, the best part of the journey is this- at no point in the journey have any of us been able to say “Hey! You know something. I have already seen Federer do this before.”
Every time Federer has stepped onto the tennis court he has found new ways to captivate and bewitch us. We have all been held captive as the maestro wielded the tennis racquet like a magic wand.
And, that is why, the next time anyone asks you if you can you name anyone who can defy the principle of marginal utility, you can definitely put Roger into the list.