Prithvi Sekhar with the Australian Open Deaf tennis championship trophies in Melbourne on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
India’s Prithvi Sekhar had a memorable outing in the Australian Open Deaf Championships, winning the singles title and finishing runner-up, with Glen Flindell in doubles, in Melbourne.
“It was great to win the singles title this time, beating the same player Gabor Mathe of Hungary, to whom I had lost in the semifinals last year. I also had a shoulder injury then. This time I was better prepared and very motivated”, said Prithvi, who spent a few weeks in Australia with his relatives before playing the three-day event in Melbourne that concluded on Sunday.
It could have been a double crown for Prithvi and partner Glen, but for them missing their chances from being up 6-0, 5-2 against Mathe and Esah Hyat in a league match.
“We had a match point on deuce, and a few other chances but we made mistakes”, recalled Prithvi, about the 6-0, 5-7, [7-10] loss in the second league match. The duo won the third league match easily to take the runners-up trophy.
“I prepared well and played with superb intensity and proper tactics against every opponent. I had the rhythm and momentum to win all my singles matches”, said Prithvi who dropped one set in five matches.
Prithvi got to watch a lot of matches featuring top players at the Australian Open. He also got to watch the matches of Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal apart from Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth.
In fact, Prithvi got to train for a few days in Sydney with Anirudh and Vijay before they went for their tournament.
“I also had five days of training before my event in Melbourne with the other players. I had a lot of support as many relatives of mine watched my matches and cheered for me on all the three days, as I could arrange the passes in advance”, said Prithvi.
He could not watch Bopanna and Matthew Ebden playing the doubles final, as Prithvi was busy with his own matches.
Prithvi does compete in the regular ITF men’s circuit and felt confident of performing better in future thanks to the morale-boosting accomplishment in Melbourne.
The results:
Singles: Final: Prithvi Sekhar bt Gabor Mathe (Hun) 6-1, 6-3; semifinals: Prithvi bt Mike Laurent (Fra) 6-2, 6-2; league: Prithvi bt Esa Hyat (GBr) 6-7(4), 6-2, [10-7]; bt Oliver Grave (Fra) 6-0, 6-3;bt Marino Kegl (Slo) 7-6(3), 6-4.
Doubles (league): Prhtivi & Glen Flindell (Aus) bt Marino Kegl (Slo) & Oliver Grave (Fra)…
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