Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

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Saturday, 31 January 2026

Upset at the Australian Open

Upset at the Australian Open

Melbourne, momentum and the margins

I watched the final in Melbourne with that mix of athlete's curiosity and citizen's wonder — you know, the kind that sits somewhere between admiration for peak performance and fascination with human unpredictability. The match ended 6–4, 4–6, 6–4: an ebb and flow that reminded me how fragile advantage can be, even for the player sitting at the very top of the rankings source.

What I felt watching the final

  • Respect for composure: The champion from Kazakhstan displayed a serenity under pressure that ultimately decided the match. When facing a 3–0 deficit in the decider, she did not hurry — she tightened her serve, resumed control of the rallies and rode that wave of focus to five consecutive games and the title. The trajectory of that comeback felt like a lesson in patience and process.

  • Compassion for the world No. 1: Being number one carries an invisible gravity. I felt for the top-ranked player — the swings of expectation, the public narrative, the internal dialogue — and how those forces can magnify every tiny slip and every missed opportunity. The line between dominance and disappointment in sport is paper-thin.

  • Awe for the sport's architecture: In three sets lasting roughly two hours and eighteen minutes, the match showcased the delicate interactions between serve, return, footwork and temperament. Small shifts — an ace at a key moment, a courageous approaching volley, a hold under pressure — created cumulative momentum that decided the championship live updates and match summary.

Two technical threads that stood out

  1. Serve as anchor: The eventual champion used the serve as a foundation. A clutch ace on championship point is the kind of finishing punctuation the greats rely on — it takes both technical execution and the nerve to finish.

  2. Turning points, not mistakes: The match wasn’t defined by long lists of unforced errors. Instead, a few pivotal breaks and the ability to convert pressure into a game-change made all the difference. In high-stakes tennis, it’s the conversion of a single tense game that often rewrites the whole narrative.

Beyond the scoreboard — why this matters to me

I don’t follow sport merely for outcomes; I watch to understand resilience in action. This final offered a concentrated study in how momentum can reverse, how leadership (on court or in life) is tested at inflection points, and how identity — being “number one” or being an underdog — shapes how pressure is felt and handled.

There’s something instructive here for founders, creators, and anyone chasing long arcs: success is iterative, fragile, and earned point by point. The scoreboard is a blunt instrument; the stories behind each game reveal the temperament, choices, and small habits that compound into outcomes.

A small set of takeaways I’m carrying forward

  • Celebrate process more than position. Rankings and titles are milestones; the daily choices are what build them.
  • Learn to love the reset. A lost set is not a life sentence — it’s information.
  • Master the moments you can control (serve, stance, preparation), and let the rest flow.

If anything, this final felt like a reminder that excellence is not a monochrome achievement but a mosaic of tiny, repeated acts of focus.


Regards,
Hemen Parekh


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