Still winning, when the chips are down: Rudraneil Sengupta, in The Sporting Life

There is a way for athletes to take from a loss, more than they may take away from a win. It begins by being less fixated on victory.

Last Sunday, watching Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lose the final of the India Open in New Delhi, my heart sank. It was their second straight loss in a final, their third of the season. Were they running out of steam, in an Olympic year?

Why did finals between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal so often end with both looking genuinely happy? They knew they each drove the other to their best. (Getty Images)

It was small consolation that they lost to the reigning world champions, South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae; or that their consistency had propelled them to become the first Indian doubles pair to be