A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

India take on South Africa in the Davis Cup World Group play-off from September 18-20. The tie will be played in the Ellis Park Indoor Arena on a hard greenest court, where the speed can be altered as required (I found this fascinating. The kind of things you can do these days)

Long overdue return to the World Group

For any Indian fan, this is the tennis event of the year, save for the grand slams. It’s a huge opportunity for India to get back to the World Group, where the big boys of world tennis play. We haven’t been there for 11 years now, and the wait has been so long that the pain of missing the action has almost numbed – the memories of past Davis Cup glory in the World group have almost started to feel like events from a past life now.

Davis Cup tennis was one of the major sporting attractions in the 80’s and early 90’s. It was easy to get hooked at a time when India’s presence in the World Group was a given and wins over higher ranked opponents a routine occurrence. But thanks to years of absentia, the competition seems to have lost some of its sheen for us. Therefore it’s imperative that we make the most of this opportunity to get back to the World Group – to refresh the old memories and create some more. There is so much riding on this tie.

So how do the teams stack up?

On paper the teams are well matched. India has the highest ranked player in the tie in Somdev Devvarman at 132. South Africa have Kevin Anderson at 156 and a trio of players in the 200’s. India’s next best singles player, Rohan Bopanna is only ranked 307. India’s doubles pairing of Leander and Bhupathi have to be considered the favourites, although South Africa have a fine doubles player in Wesley Moodie. South Africa are at home and have a very good record as hosts.

In terms of the playing surface, the two sides have very similar likes and dislikes so that shouldn’t be too much of a factor. But South Africa could gamble on a fast court which would suit the big serving game of the 6’8’’Anderson.

I am also counting on the Indian origin community in South Africa to turn up in large number to negate the massive crowd support that South Africa would have otherwise enjoyed.

The fate of the tie could come down to the clash between Somdev and Anderson and Rohan and South Africa’s second singles player. India need to win atleast one of these two matches to make the World Group.

And it is here that the absurd rule (an order from the Indian Government which bars non-natives from representing the country), which will probably keep Prakash Amritraj out of the tie, really rankles. The presence of the 159th ranked Prakash could have tilted the scales conclusively in India’s favour. But the team shouldn’t let his absence bother them. Somdev Devvarman has proven to be the true successor of Leander Paes; raising his game time and again to beat higher ranked opponents in the Davis Cup and we have full confidence that he will guide us back to the Promised Land.

The memories of 1974 of 1994

Any discussion involving India, South Africa and the Davis Cup cannot be complete without a mention of the 1974 final between these two nations which was won by the former Springboks after the Indians forfeited the tie in protest against apartheid. It was a righteous act but as a result South Africa are former Davis Cup champions and India are not. It was India’s best chance to win the Cup and save for the 1987 final, when we were blanked 5-0 by Sweden, we haven’t come that close again.

The Indian side would also seek to take revenge for the only other tie between the two sides, which was played in 1994 when the South Africans led by former top-ten player Wayne Ferreira won 3-2 in Jaipur. Leander Paes was a heart-broken member of that team and he would be itching to get some sort of revenge.

35 years on from the 1974 final that never happened, the two nations square up again with something substantial on offer – both teams trying to get back to the World group for the first time since 1998. And this round, the Indians cannot let anything come between them and victory.

First my heartiest congratulations to Yuki Bhambri for becoming the fourth Indian to win the Boys title at a Grand Slam event. Congratulations are also in order for everyone who did his or her bit behind the scenes to make this happen – none more so than his parents who have supported the careers of three tennis playing children and all the costs that come with it, despite being stretched well beyond their means. India could do well with more like you.

Yuki’s triumph has heightened the expectations of Indian tennis fans and raised a number of questions. Let’s look at these questions and try answering them.

How good is winning a Junior Grand Slam title, as an indicator of future success on the men’s tour?

Fairly good.

Check out the complete list of Junior Grand Slam Champions. Some of the winners this decade have been Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marcos Baghdatis and Richard Gasquet. Others like Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cillic have also had pretty good careers so far.

All the previous Indians to win a junior title – Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan and Leander Paes – also had a fairly good run at the senior level.

Therefore, winning a junior Grand Slam is a fairly good indicator and there is a very good chance that Yuki will make a successful transition to the senior game.

How difficult is the transition from a successful junior to a player on the men’s tour?

Quite difficult.

Look at the list again. There are some names you wouldn’t recognize – so what happened to those guys. Well, obviously they couldn’t make the leap from successful junior to successful senior. Like in most sports, the ingredients for success change dramatically as you step up into the men’s world, with natural talent playing a lesser role and things like power, fitness and mental toughness becoming increasingly more important. Also as compared to team sports, where you can hide your flaws with the help of your teammates, in an individual sport like tennis, you are completely on your own and every chink in your armour can be mercilessly exploited by your opponent.

Look at the Indians in the list again. Their level of success on the men’s tour is directly proportional to how soon they made an appearance on it, with Ramesh falling short of his father’s standards and Leander failing to match the junior Krishnan’s efforts. The reason is simple – physical fitness and power has become more and more important as years have gone by and the skill-oriented Indians have continued to fall behind. Paes won an Olympic bronze but a lot more was expected of him on the ATP tour.

So what needs to be done to ensure Yuki doesn’t miss?

Yuki needs to be more like Somdev Dev Varman and less like Krishnan and Paes, which means he needs to add a lot of muscle and work on his fitness and conditioning.

He also needs to avoid the temptation of playing too much juniors tennis and start getting a taste of the big bad world of men’s tennis. There is not much to be gained by winning a gaggle of junior trophies and a lot to be learned by playing the men.

He also needs to focus on singles. Doubles helps you with your volleying and provides a little extra cash while you are struggling on the ATP Tour but it also whets your appetite and makes you less hungry for success in singles. Yuki’s a great talent and should maximize his singles potential.

And finally he needs all the guidance and support including financial help as he finds his way in the men’s world.

What is the current state of affairs on Yuki’s development?

Most of it is coming along really well although a lot still needs to be done especially on the money front.

Yuki already trains at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, thanks to IMG, and is in very safe hands. The coaches at the NBTA are doing everything to build up his strength and fitness, not to forget helping him become better as a tennis player. He already trains with the men and has decided to focus only on men’s events except for the junior grand slams – another sign of his high maturity – in addition to the mental acumen he displays on court.

Yuki is also part of the government scheme for preparing players for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The  govt takes care of all his grand slam expenses.

But he needs more financial support to really make the most of his potential. As previously mentioned, his parents’ resources have already been stretched thin. He needs some serious sponsorship to take care of the cost of travel, training and providing for a full fledged support staff. Hopefully, the Australian Open success should attract a few corporates.

He also has the benefit of having a fair number of Indian players on the men’s tour to offer encouragement and support – Paes, Bhupathi, Dev Varman and Prakash Amritraj.

But there is still a lot of work to be done and we are hoping Yuki leaves no stone unturned.

What does this mean for the future of Indian Tennis?

This means that for the first time since the heydays of Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan, India could have two fine singles players, playing together at their peak. Somdev Dev Varman is already making rapid strides on the tour and Yuki could join him in a few years time. That will pave the way for a return to the elite World Group in the Davis Cup. Man, have I missed the excitement of the Davis Cup.

Finally a word of caution

We will have to be patient and not over burden the young champion with expectations. It will take a while before Yuki makes his mark on the men’s tour. A look at the list of the Junior Slam winners will show us, that, the Champions since 2006 are yet to establish themselves on the ATP Tour. Most of them are still playing the Futures and the Challengers and trying to find their feet. Yuki Bhambri will also have to go through the same growth curve before he becomes man enough for the ATP Tour.

Till then, let’s get back to cheering for Somdev Dev Varman. He is definitely ready for the expectations.

More glory for Indian Tennis!!!

Considering that we had the Olympics in 2008, it is natural that the performance in the Olympics will largely determine how well a particular sport fared in the year gone by. But that will not be the entire story. A lot of non-Olympic events will also vouch for the current state of affairs and as well as how the future will be.

We will rate every sport on a scale from -3 to 3. A positive score will indicate a step forward and a negative one will point to a regression. The absolute value will be a measure of the quantum.

So here we go sport by sport in alphabetical order

Archery

Positives
Indian men won gold medal in the men’s recurve team event in the World Cup held in Antalya, Turkey.

Negatives
The disappointment of the Olympics. A Lot was expected of the women’s team and of Dola Banerjee – the winner of the World Cup in 2007. But nobody delivered on the promise. We didn’t even contend for a medal. Another story of under achievement

Verdict
Archery has tantalized us with its medal winning potential for too long now. Time and again it promises a lot and then leaves Indian fans heartbroken. The sport has a decent talent identification program and generally the archers are provided with world class coaching and infrastructure and given sufficient international exposure. If only we could do something about their mental strength and nerves at the big events

Score
0

Athletics

Positives
The Indians topped the medals tally in the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha in February ahead of China and did well in the three Asian Grand Prix events in June.
The federation and the govt improved its act – there was a training-cum-competition trip of England before the Olympics and a few athletes were sent to train abroad.

Negatives
A hugely disappointing Olympics where almost instead of going swifter, higher and stronger our athletes ended up being slower, lower and weaker. The selection criterion remains a joke with the authorities’ intent on inflating the size of the squad. The Olympics also signalled the end for our lone world class athlete – Anju Bobby George.
Doping and age violations became even more rampant at junior and sub-junior levels.

Verdict
We are totally stuck in a time warp – happy to win medals at inconsequential events and send the largest contingent amongst the various sports to the Olympics. The consistency of our underperformance at the Olympics is extremely depressing. There isn’t a single athlete coming through the ranks who we can get excited about. This sport needs a major over haul.

Score
-1

Badminton

Positives
The super success of Saina Nehwal who is still a teenager. She missed an Olympic medal by a whisker and has improved by leaps and bounds since then.
Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand form a two man support system for all aspiring badminton players
India has 4 players in the top 50 on the men’s side including Chetan Anand at 15.

Negatives
The cancellation of national level tournaments, the passport fiascos and the haphazard arrangement of training camps.

Verdict
We have the talent and we are making it count to some extent. But we could really do with more exposure and better support systems.

Score
1.5

Boxing

Positives
An Olympic medal and two near misses
4 medals at the AIBA boxing World Cup
World Championship Gold medals for Mary Kom (women) and Thakchom Singh (junior men)
A much better support system and hopefully things are getting even better – thanks to Bhiwani and the Mittal Trust

Negatives
In spite of all the glory and the surge in popularity of the boxers’ post the Olympics, things are back to normal – there was no reception for the World cup squad which came home with 4 medals

Verdict
The talent was always there. Now we have started to believe in ourselves. The depth is also very good. The next Olympics could be even better

Score
2

Hockey

Positives
KPS Gill was finally sacked
The emergence of a talented drag flicker in Diwakar Ram
A movie called Chak De which made some much needed attention to the sport

Negatives
We missed the Olympics
We still have an ad-hoc committee and a caretaker coach

Verdict
We have reached a nadir. And we have stayed there. Full stop.

Score
-3

Shooting

Positives
Abhinav Bindra wins an Olympic gold
Gagan Narang breaks two world records
Ronjon Sodhi wins the World Cup and equals a world record

Negatives
Other then Bindra and Narang all the other shooters stunk at the Olympics
The acute shortage of equipment, practise pellets, infrastructure and support systems continues

Verdict
The talent has always been there but in spite of an Olympic gold life has not changed for the shooters. Is Bindra merely an exception or do we have capability to produce more champions – the jury is still out on this

Score
1

Tennis

Positives
The emergence of Somdev Dev Varman. Barely six months after turning professional he is already India’s highest ranked player at world number 204.
Leander Paes’ becoming a vice president of Bengal Tennis. We shouldn’t read too much into this but it at least creates hope.
The emergence of Yuki Bhambhri. Another one who gives us hope for the future

Negatives
The open infighting in the Davis Cup team
The dismal year for Sania Mirza. Also disappointing years for the other women’s players
Failure to win a medal at the Olympics. It’s not the failure which stinks – it’s the fact that Paes and Bhupathi made every effort to not be well prepared.
Failure to make the World group in the Davis Cup once again
The AITA at its worst. They announced the Indian Tennis League – which was modelled on the IPL but then totally forgot about it. They also picked up a fight with the guys running Apollo’s Mission Grand Slam 2018 program

Verdict
Tennis is extremely popular in the country – there are lots of enthusiastic kids playing it, parents are usually encouraging and there is no shortage of fans willing to cheer and corporates willing to fund the game. But hardly any good players are coming through. We have a big problem with our system and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

Score
0

Weightlifting

Positives
Absolutely nothing.

Negatives
Once a medal generating sport, women’s weightlifting slipped a little more in 2008, with our weightlifters falling a little further off the international pace.
The doping controversies
The selection controversies

Verdict
We are going from bad to worse and to add to it are also doing it disgracefully and with shame

Score
-1.5

Wrestling

Positives
The bronze medal won by Sushil Kumar at the Olympics.
A decent performance at the Commonwealth Youth Games
The emergence of Indian stars in professional wrestling like the WWE – the likes of the Great Khali and Sanjoy Dutt. At least it motivates young kids to take up the sport.
As compared to the previous Olympics, Indian wrestlers were trianed by better foreign coaches and were given more international exposure.

Negatives
We are not making the Olympic success count. Absolutely nothing has been done to take advantage of the increased interest in the sport

Verdict
The sport is extremely popular in certain pockets of the country and there is no shortage of talent. In fact the sport continues to prosper, in spite of govt and corporate apathy, because of its huge popularity in these regions. And now Sushil Kumar has shown all the budding wrestlers that we can be true world beaters. This is a great time to harness this surging potential and make Olympic medals a regular feature. Sadly the govt hasn’t awakened to this possibility. And for some reason the corporates also stay away. Why isn’t Sushil Kumar endorsing energy drinks and breakfast cereal?

Score
1

This article was originally published on www.IndiaAtLondon.com