Deja-vu damage

Deja-vu is an increasingly disturbing phenomenon, the older you get. Just like the unproveable statement that history repeats itself, more and more I find myself confronted with people and situations that I'm sure I've been in before. The worst thing is that, also with age, your memory starts to play tricks on you, and that young person standing in front of you, with a certain posture and hairstyle and smile, could it be the reincarnation of that other young person you saw twenty years ago while you were in Austria?

Old style

I'm just watching a player I'm seen a few times this year, Dimitrov. He's playing Djokovic, and Djokovic is winning easily, far too easily. And it's all because of deja-vu. Dimitrov, either expressly or by accident, is such a good copy of Federer, that when Djokovic walks on the court, all he has to do is set himself up to play an inferior version of Federer. Of course Djokovic has played many times against Federer, and, winning or losing, he knows what Federer can bring onto the court. He knows how the points will pan out, and Djokovic can plan his game accordingly. He knows he's going to lose plenty of points, but he won't worry about that. He must make sure that he can exploit the subtle weaknesses of the Federer game, take those opportunities, and hope he'll be the winner. He can do no more than that. However, through the many matches with Federer, Djokovic knows that Federer is thinking exactly like him - I know what this guy can and can't do - he's not going to bring any real secret weapon onto the court. All I have to do is get my own game organised!

So today in Shanghai we have Djokovic, who almost boringly, has set up his game to beat a Federer-type product, and because it isn't so good as the real Federer, he's winning easily. A case of deja-vu working in serious favour of Djokovic.

Too much brain power

On the other side of the net we have the deja-vu working against Dimitrov. He's been described for years as a Federer clone, quite correctly. Maybe Dimitrov, an expert in mimicry, has simply copied the great man to the finest detail, and now can't turn back. Or maybe, through spectacular repetition of genes, Federer § version 2 simply appeared on the planet ten years later in Bulgaria, where ten years earlier it had surfaced in Switwerland.

Whatever the explanation, Dimitrov has a real problem. All his opponents, and opponents' coaches, have studied and admired Federer for the last 12 years. Can we do it like him, or even better than him? Surely not better than him, because Federer has certainly come closer to perfection than any other player that we have ever seen? But it's not a bad idea to make a great copy of him, and Dimitrov is the proof. For those pros who have trouble playing against Federer, even an inferior version, Dimitrov is certainly going to win some matches, and he's managed to get himself up to 70 in the world by doing it.

The real deal

A lot of the current pros have played Federer, and with the intense analysis of his game, any pro with a minimum experience can exploit deja-vu when they play Dimitrov. They just prepare themselves for a Federer match, and reckon that they'll have real chances to win.

Just to finish, the idea of deja-vu comes from the world of psychology, a medical science, but the least measurable medical science, and for that the most fascinating, the most disturbing. It is that sensation that you are experiencing something for NOT the first time.

Mixed inputs

In terms of psychology, it is defined as the illusion of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time. But is it an illusion? I watch Dimitrov, and I'm not sure that it's an illusion.

The fact that, in psychological terms, you might be experiencing an illusion (when you are playing Dimitrov) can be quite scary. Just like the scariness of identical twins who play nasty tricks on people, not knowing which is which.

However the more practical aspect of deja-vu, is a second definition I found, the "dull familiarity" of experiencing something you've experienced before. This dull familiarity may be monotonous and boring, but is gives great reassurance. You know exactly what to do when experiencing it.