Wednesday, Oct 23, 2002
Wednesday, Oct 23, 2002 |
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Tennis
By Our Special Correspondent
The brightest hope in the Indian tennis scene at the moment, Rohan Bopanna looked back with a sense of joy and satisfaction even as he struggled to wipe away the tinge of disappointment, while talking about reaching the Asian tennis championship final, on his return from Tashkent here on Tuesday morning. There was a lot at stake, as the Asian title was worth a wild card for the Australian Open. Not only that, there was a lot of money involved. The winner's prize was $8000 and it would have assured another $9000, the first round loser's purse at the season's first Grand Slam. "I was giving it everything, but everytime I served hard I was hardly able to move my forearm for the next shot'', said the 23-year-old Bopanna, as he summed up the exciting experience. Conceding that he was in no position to play his best in the final against Gouichi Motomura, Bopanna stressed that he was surprised with the Japanese's quickness on court and his retrieving ability had stunned at times. "Overall, I am happy with the effort, as I had beaten some top-200 players like Dmitri Tomashevich and Vadim Kutsenko. Obviously, the hosts were disappointed when I put one Uzbek after another out. But it was a nice feeling to beat these guys as I had lost from a winning position against Oleg Ogorodov in the Asian Games, in a match in which I had so many chances'', said Bopanna. A win for Bopanna against Ogorodov would have virtually ensured a medal for India in the Asian Games, but he could not convert the advantage of an early break in the third set. "I am learning a lot. Most important point that I have understood is that one needs to compete at that level regularly to beat the top players who don't give anything away on crucial points. You have to earn your points'', said Bopanna. He did point out that Tomashevich had come up with a string of double-faults, including one on match-point, in making it easy for him in the quarterfinals. "I played very well against Kutsenko. I served big and attacked a lot. It has given me a lot of confidence. I know that I have the game to get there. It is a matter of putting it all together'', said Bopanna, who would rest in Bangalore for a few days before getting ready for the final stretch of the season. Bopanna recalled that it was a great experience to play the Davis Cup match against Australia in front of a huge crowd. "I got used to the atmosphere after a few points. Scott Draper is an experienced left-hander, and he didn't really give me any chance'', said Bopanna. He was profuse in appreciating the team spirit in the Davis Cup and Asian Games stints, which stood in contrast to the professional circuit when the motivation had to be from the self. Bopanna will play the three $10,000 Futures tournaments in Chandigarh, Delhi and Davangere over the next three weeks, when he would be trying to defend about 20 ATP points, that he had made around the same time last year with his appearance in two finals and a semifinal in tournaments at home. In fact, that spell had triggered his forward movement in the professional league, and provided that sense of self-belief. It will be challenges abroad in Vietnam, Japan and Bangkok before the season runs out for Bopanna, as he would try to push his ranking from 353 at present into the top-300. "I had aimed to make it to the top 500 or 400 at the beginning of the year, as my ranking was in the 1000s then. It is looking good now. With two titles and two finals, it has been a good year. It will be great if I can give it a good finish'', said Bopanna, who would have already broken into the top-300 had there been ATP points for the $100,000 Asian championship. From being the runner-up here last year against Vijay Kannan, to being a star spectator at the ongoing National championship, Rohan Bopanna has indeed come some way. He, of course, does not have much time to stop and stare, as there are miles to go, and promises to keep.
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