तपस्या

I failed trying to find an alternate word for this man’s act in English.

Federer retired at 37.

Tendulkar walked off at 39.

Maradona hung his boots at 37.

43 undeniably lies on the other side of athletic prime by all standards.

All the greats of most popular sports retire by the age of 40 on average, having crossed their respective primes way before that. Unrecognized potential greats quit even before that.

Rohan Bopanna devoted 30 years of his life to a single cause. That’s commendable.

But devoting 30 years to a sport with a fraction of the succes that came to the other names in this list is beyond that!

There are a million voices yelling reasonably logical arguments from the outside. To shut them down and to shut down the loudest one within yourself and take the field with greying beard hair is superhuman!

That’s why – ‘Tapasya’.

Rohan Bopanna became the oldest player ever to win a grand slam and be positioned number one in ATP doubles ranking.

I don’t follow Tennis as religiously to justify talking about it but his unbreakable spirit deserves it and much more!

And the world don’t dare downplay this achievement by claiming it to be a doubles title.

We aren’t a great tennis nation by any measure but history has taught us that when an Indian underdog defies the odds at the world stage – a million hearts get inspired to do the same!

The World of Tennis be warned, a singles title ain’t that far!