Prithvi Sekhar had a memorable outing at 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 Flindell, had they not missed their chances after being up 6-0, 5-2 against Gabor Mathe and Esah Hyat in a league match of the doubles.
“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 doubles 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 trained 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,” said Prithvi.
He could not watch Bopanna and Matthew Ebden playing the doubles final, as Prithvi was busy playing 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.
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