Reflecting on an extraordinary run of 56 consecutive hard-court victories, Tennis star Roger Fedꦑerer once spoke of how, when everything clicked into place during a tournament, he felt unstoppable:
"It feels like everything is slow-mo coming towards me and you feel like for the opponent everything is going super fast," . "So that's when I feel at times invincible.
"It's very rare but it has happened in the past and it's a beautiful thing to have as a tennis player, or as an at𝄹hlete."
After taking his 73rd grand prix victo꧅ry at Le Mans on Sunday, reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez wa🥀s asked if he had experienced a similar feeling of invincibility during his racing career.
"Yes. I felt invincible in 20🌳14 and then 2015, boom!" Marquez laughed.
"I crashed many times because I felt like... I arrived in MotoGP [and won the title] in 2013. In 2014 I won 13 races, including ♚ten in a row. And then I said💦 in 2015, 'I will win the title again'.
"You feel really good, but then [things happen] in the normal way. I mean, we are humans. We do some mistake♐s. We need to learn about it.
"B♓ut, we are in MotoGP and everybody is so fast and if you want to be the best you ♏need to be precise in all the areas."
The 2015 season saw Marquez suffer 💟his only title defeat to date in the premier-class, finishing behind Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Va🍸lentino Rossi after six DNFs.
Fast forward to 2019 and the Repsol Honda rider, winner of seven world titles in the last nine years, has already overcome a shock non-score i🎃n ꦦAustin to retake the championship advantage by eight points following the French round.
Of the races he has finished, Marquez's only defeat has been by a miniscule 0.023s margin to An🐼drea Dovizioso in the Qatar season opener.
"It’s not frustrati🥂ng [to only be eight points ahead] because I did one zero. One zero with only five races is something that you pay for," he said.
Marquez added that the COTA error, while on his way to extending what had been a perfect victory record at the circuit, served as a reminder to remain focu𒀰ssed at all times.
"We did the zero at the track we didn’t expect. It's one of the🐲 years that I feel stronger on the bike and I did a mistake where I didn’t expect it. So that means we need to be so concentrated in all the situations, in all the racetracks."
Although Alex Rins and Suzuki h🥂ave taken a race win already this💦 season, with Yamaha also making a more competitive start than previous years, Marquez currently sees only one opponent as being able to offer a consistent challenge.
"Dovi is doing a great job. If you seᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe the other contenders they are up here in FP1, in FP2 down there, but Dovi is always in the top five. This is the way to fight for the championship and w𝓡e are there also.
"Already in𝕴 last two years Dovi was a tough opponent and he will be a tough opponent again this ꦫyear."
The Ducati rid෴er has finished title runner-up to Marquez for the past two seasons.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Roಞssi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.