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Originally Posted by Brian Swartz
I think this just shows that mental health is complicated and has many facets to it. It's not just 'you're mentally tough or you aren't'. Biles and Djokovic have both obviously been world-class in their disciplines and that requires certain mental aspects, pressure-handling to achieve, etc. That doesn't mean they can't also have breakdowns in other mental areas. Also, no human is a machine. A difficulty/breakdown at one time does not invalidate performance at another time.
Djokovic has had anger issues before. That's a part of his makeup, and it's cost him on occasion. He also has performed incredibly in tense, extended, high-pressure matches. So there's just both aspects present, and mental health/toughness isn't something anyone can turn on and off like a light switch. Reality has more nuance than that.
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Surely you're not implying here that the tension/competition breakdown that Djokovic had and the physical/mental disconnect that Biles had were related to the same thing?
Don't you ever run down a flight of stairs and suddenly get worried that your body will forget what it's doing and you'll end up falling because you missed a step? Happens to me all the time. I'm sure that Biles has tumbled so much that a lot of her standard moves are pure muscle memory at this point. Now add in the more complex additions to those moves and if the brain just 'loses' how it's supposed to do those things there's not much you can do until it 'finds' that spot again.