Last week was quite a week and witnessed a few firsts!
India successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the moon and in the process becoming the first-ever mission to land near the moon’s south pole! 👏That’s cool as scientists believe water ice deposits exist near the south pole of the moon. Kudos to the scientists and all those who had a role in making the mission a success! 👏
Last Sunday, in one of the best matches in recent times, Novak Djokovic won the Western & Southern Open title in Cincinnati with a victory over Carlos Alcaraz in a three-set match that lasted almost 4 hours! Setting aside the # of majors won IMHO Djokovic is the GOAT for a simple reason: He has played so many thrillers in majors with other contemporaries who have been part of the GOAT conversation and has now already played a few classics against the best of the next generation.
What do India’s lunar mission and Djokovic’s recent victory have in common?
One of the qualities I have great admiration for is bouncebackability. Failing after coming very close to success and then overcoming soul-crushing setback/s to emerge victorious takes special strength, focus, ability and willingness to learn from unfavorable outcome/s of the past. 👍
India’s earlier moon lander and orbiter attempt in 2019, Chandrayaan-2, was a mix of success and failure in that orbiter was successfully put into operation but the lander was lost in attempt to land. That makes the Chandrayaan-3 success sweeter! 😊
Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in 2023 Wimbledon men’s tennis final in a 5-set thriller after losing to Djokovic in the 2023 French Open men’s tennis final in a bit of a disappointing end to a match that was shaping up to be a thriller (due to cramps Alcaraz suffered after winning the 2nd set). Both Alcaraz and Djokovic’s have shown amazing ability to bounce back after crushing defeats and we can expect some more great tennis when they play again. 👍
There were other historic firsts too last week but that’s a discussion for a different time 🙂
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