INDIAN WELLS: Novak Djokovic leaned back in his chair in the hot sun, took a drink of water, and couldn't stop his hands from shaking.
The world number one had just double faulted three times to lose a second-set tiebreaker to world number two Roger Federer in the Indian Wells championship game on Sunday.
"I managed to overcome the frustration of handing that tiebreak to him with three double faults in crucial moments," said Djokovic, who went on to win the match in three sets for his 50th career singles ATP Tour title. "We are all human. We all fall under pressure."
The Serbian tennis star and now back-to-back Indian Wells Masters champion described the victory as a roller-coaster of emotions.
It's all in a day's work for the world's elite tennis players and Djokovic is no different. Against Federer he went from the shaking hands episode to smashing a racquet in anger in the third set, to the euphoria of beating his biggest rival on one of the biggest stages in tennis.
"I managed to regroup," he said. "But that is sport. Those things happen under pressure sometimes.
"Knowing I was close to victory, making three double faults, the pressure, it was all part of it. But I managed to calm down and get calmer kind of movement in the third set."
As for the racquet-smashing incident, he says he once again had a heart-to-heart discussion during the changeover with himself.
"When I finished with what I have done I just told myself, 'OK, this is it. Let it go.' Now I have to refocus and stand up in a minute and play my best."
Djokovic said when he goes through those moments -- when he really feels the pressure getting to him -- he reminds himself of the bigger picture.
"I don't think that these challenges that I go through are actually harming me or that I find that is a burden on my back," he said. "It is a privilege because I earned it. I earned the position to be in."
Djokovic isn't of course the only one who battled demons in the middle of a tight match over the last two weeks in the California desert.
Italy's defending women's champion Flavia Pennetta almost let her emotions get the best of her in a two-hour marathon with world number two, Maria Sharapova.
After dropping the first set, Pennetta had to leave the court and go under the stands into the tunnel area where she could yell, scream and "cry" as loud as she wanted.
Pennetta came back out onto the court after her meltdown and rallied to beat Sharapova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
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