For almost three quarters of an hour he had the audience listening to him in rapt attention. Every lesson that he passed on was appreciated, every bit of humour cheered and the serious points digested with appreciative nods.

He held forth with the same confidence that he displayed on the tennis courts during his glory days. Tall and charismatic, the hallmark smile and a global citizen every bit at home in Chennai — that was Vijay Amritraj, former tennis player and now TV commentator, among a whole host of other things.

“Every challenge is an opportunity and pressure is a privilege,” he declared, after recounting a do-or-die Davis Cup match he played in the Delhi heat, when he was 34 years old against an opponent in his early 20s, that saw India make it to the finals in 1987. Not all of us, Vijay said, are ever put in that situation of trying to do the impossible.

Addressing a gathering of entrepreneurs at TiECON 2013 organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Chennai, Vijay recalled that he was down two sets and three games in the third set, and trailing 0-40 on his serve. During the break, his team-mates and coach advised him to give up the match. He had played over seven hours in the searing Delhi heat and had lost a lot of weight.

There was no way he could continue, was the opinion of everyone in the locker room.

Vijay told the coach, the team manager and his team-mates to have an ambulance ready. For, he was determined to get back on to the court and continue. Slowly, he clawed back into the game, won the match and helped India enter the finals.

Playing the Davis Cup and representing your country, Vijay said, was a real honour. It was an entirely different feeling from when you play for yourself. “For us at home,” he said, “the word impossible didn’t exist.” Vijay, who will turn 60 next month, recalls a plaque he saw in astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s house in the US, when he was interviewing him for a television programme. The plaque had the inscription: “Who says sky is the limit when I left my footprints on the moon.”

Drawing parallels between sports and entrepreneurship, Vijay said just as sportsmen have to change their game to suit their opponents, those in business have to adapt to changes in the marketplace.

Vijay has five Ds for one to be successful, whether as sportsman or entrepreneur – Desire, Discipline, Dedication, Determination and Divine Intervention. You might get the first four right, you still need the fifth to succeed. “Many times I have been asked how I lost at Wimbledon to (Bjorn) Borg. I did the first four right, I didn’t have the fifth,” he said, looking up. “Anyway, that’s my excuse,” he added, bringing the house down.

> ramakrishnan.n@thehindu.co.in

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