The response to a perceived threat to survival is in all of us but reveals itself in various forms often referred to as the fright, fight or flight response.
What do you tend to do under pressure or attack? Do you freeze (fright) and stand there dumb-founded or play dead? Do you lash out (fight) at the threat verbally or physically or at least posture as if you are going to? Or are you programmed to turn and run (flight) as far away from the threat as you can get?
We've seen some interesting reactions to stress at Wimbledon this week that fall across the spectrum of possible responses. Australian Nick Kyrgios responded to the attack of Brit Andy Murray after a close first set with a combination of flight and fright.
Mentally he seemed to vacate the court but physically he couldn't, so his body went into shutdown-fright mode and didn't bother putting in that extra bit of effort needed to beat someone of Murray's calibre.
Kyrgios himself agreed with John McEnroe's damning assessment of his crumbling performance and labelled himself as "just a little soft, still'' in the mental game, something which has been an ongoing issue.
It seems that those predisposed or conditioned to flee from a stressful or challenging situation prefer scenarios where their chance of success is high, and the minute things get tough, whatever tough stuff they had gets going! That seemed the case with Kyrgios, at least.
Serena Williams, on the other hand, is made of tougher stuff and meets a threat head-on with the fight response.
In the first tight set, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova made Serena sweat and as the grass surface got more and more slippery, Serena went on the attack, aiming her fighting spirit at the umpire and then at Wimbledon when she stated "If I get hurt, I'm suing''.
The threat rain (and the umpire) posed to the reigning Wimbledon champion's goals of keeping her crown and equalling Steffi Graf's record of 22 grand slam titles was beaten into submission when the roof was finally closed and Williams went on to demolish her Russian opponent 7-5, 6-0.
Of course, once the threat to her safety and goals was removed Williams downplayed her outburst as a heat-of-the-moment comment that needn't be taken seriously.
Some fights are fleeting and others are epic which requires an all together different response. Sam Querrey, of the United States, had a career-high fight on his hands against Novak Djokovic in the weekend, where he came out the surprising and ecstatic victor, while Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won an epic physical and mental battle against another American, John Isner.
It takes time, experience and exposure to learn how to respond effectively to sustained stressful situations and in most sports the fight response is the one we want to summon but also control.
With wisdom and maturity, we learn how to manage our response to threats, and what once was overwhelming is perceived as achievable.
Maybe one day Kyrgios will gain wisdom and maturity and conquer his biggest threat - his attitude. Only then will he learn the habit of winning games and fans with his hulk, rather than sulk, response.
