Prithvi Sekhar

Prithvi Sekhar (born 3 October 1993) is an Indian male deaf tennis player. He represented India at the Deaflympics in 2013 and 2017. He won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics partnering with Jafreen Shaik. He is also currently employed in the Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai.

Biography Prithvi started playing tennis from 2002 when he was just eight years old. He was actually left with two options either to choose cricket or tennis at the age of eight and he decided to choose the latter. He idolised tennis icons Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Prithvi Sekhar along with Jafreen Shaik claimed a historical bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics, marking India's first ever Deaflympic medal in tennis.

Rising up through ranks He then became a prolific tennis player despite being deaf, improving his ratings in the ATP singles and doubles to be among the top ten deaf players. His first breakthrough in professional tennis circuit eventually came in May 2018 when he scored his first ATP point by winning a match at the International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour which was held in China. He came into the 2019 World Deaf Tennis Championships unseeded. However, he defied the odds defeating four seeded players including top seed world no 1. Gabor Mathe of Hungary and then beating third seed Jaroslav Smedek in the final to claim his first world title. He also secured bronze medal in men's doubles event at 2019 World Championships.

He made his second Deaflympic appearance during the 2021 Summer Deaflympics (held in May 2022) representing India and he claimed three medals in the competition. During the 2021 Summer Deaflympics, he teamed up with Dhananjay Dubey to claim silver in men's doubles event whereas he collaborated with Jafreen Shaikh to clinch bronze in mixed doubles. He also secured a bronze in men's singles event to increase his personal medal tally to three during the multi-sport event.