The Hindu : Leander's support cast has to deliver

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Leander's support cast has to deliver

By Kamesh Srinivasan

KOLKATA APRIL 2. Leander Paes in a Davis Cup theatre is an intimidating opposition any day, anywhere in the world. In his backyard, at the South Club, he is tough to beat, to say the least.

Quite surprisingly, in his illustrious career spanning nearly 15 years of Davis Cup duty, Leander has played only four ties at his home. That is a small figure considering that the 29-year-old Leander has played 18 of his 32 Davis Cup ties in India, so far.

In those four outings, Hong Kong and China were unable to pose much threat to Leander in 1995 and 1999 respectively. Leander dropped only 17 games in three matches against Hong Kong, and dropped only one set, that too in the dead rubber against Ben-Qiang Zhu in the tie against China. India had won 4-1 and 5-0 then.

A thriller of a contest was in 1993, when Leander and Ramesh Krishnan piloted India past the formidable Swiss, 3-2 in the World Group first round. Leander and Ramesh combined fabulously to down Jakob Hlasek and Marc Rosset 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in the key doubles. They took turns in beating Hlasek in straight sets in the singles, rather convincingly, while Rosset proved a tough nut to crack.

That was the year when India reached the semifinals of the World Group, after another memorable triumph in Frejus in the quarterfinals against France.

The only time when Leander was unable to play a winning role at the South Club, was when the Swedes showed their strike power in the World Group quarterfinals in 1996. Even then, Leander played a memorable match against Jonas Bjorkman before going down 5-7 in the fifth set. Against Nicklas Kulti, Leander lost in the third set tie-break 6-8.

Leander and Mahesh Bhupathi, forging a partnership in their nascent doubles career, won the first set against Bjorkman and Kulti, one of the best pairs in the world then, before losing in four sets.

Mahesh, on his part had played two good sets, winning the first and losing the second in tie-breaks against Thomas Enqvist, before the world's top-10 star shut the inexperienced young man out for the loss of one game each in the next two sets.

All that is history. Today's world is too fast to give us the luxury of switching back to the wonderful memories. Ask Harsh Mankad, who does not have any memories of playing a Davis Cup tie at home, despite the fact that he has featured in six ties in the last three years.

The 23-year-old Harsh had it tough as he had to tackle players of the calibre of Lleyton Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs of Australia, Andy Roddick and James Blake of the U.S. apart from Andreas Vinciguerra and Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden.

Except for playing a honourable tie-break in the second set against Hewitt, Harsh could only gather harsh lessons in those encounters against the best in the business.

He did beat Ali Hamadeh and Karim Alyali of Lebanon, dropping only nine games in two matches, but then Leander dropped only seven games in two matches, and another six in the doubles in partnership with Mahesh. That was one of the easiest ties away from home.

Harsh beat James Shortall in squally conditions in New Zealand in a dead rubber, after Leander had sealed the issue with a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Mark Nielsen in Wellington. That was one match in which Leander, on the verge of a victory with a comfortable lead in the third set, let things drift quite alarmingly.

If Harsh envies the good turn of events for the strapping Rohan Bopanna who is likely to play his second home tie, it is very much understandable. In fact, Bopanna should thank his stars that he did not make the breakthrough a little earlier, as he may not have been able to find himself in a position of advantage, as he does now.

With the victory over Jun Kato of Japan in a live fourth rubber against Japan in the recent tie in New Delhi under his belt, Bopanna is more confident about his ability these days.

He did play a good match against Gouichi Motomura in the first rubber when he lost in four sets, but Bopanna was unable to play at his best then, as he was far too anxious to unleash all his weapons in a hurry.

To be fair, the 23-year-old Coorgi lad, all of 1.89 metres, does have the weapons, and has been busy sharpening them in the Challenger events.

Bopanna knows that he has to make the maximum of the chances at home on grass, as time seems to be running out quick on the Indian second string.

"It is a huge advantage to have someone like Leander in the team. The others can be sure of what Leander can, and go about their task better", said the former coach of the Indian team, Akhtar Ali.

Well, there is Prakash Amritraj waiting on the wings. Actually, the selectors did not want to add to the pressure on the likes of Harsh and Bopanna, by calling Prakash straightaway after he became eligible to represent the country from April 1, as per the ITF ruling. The 19-year-old Prakash had made it to the final qualifying round in $355,000 ATP Tour events in Scottsdale and San Jose.

Playing on a wild card in the Masters series event in Indian Wells, Prakash lost to Robby Ginepri of the U.S., winning six games, in the first qualifying round.

Ginepri not only qualified but made it to the fourth round, losing only to the eventual champion Hewitt. On the way, Ginepri beat Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea and more importantly, beat Marat Safin of Russia in the third round 6-0, 6-1!

When you get to compete against players of such calibre as Ginepri, you tend to mature fast.

Quite undoubtedly, Prakash who is set to turn a professional in May, will be the player to provide the much needed impetus to Indian tennis, especially in its bid to get into the World Group.

The powers that be ruling Indian tennis are just waiting to spring the trump card, and the very idea should make the likes of Bopanna and Harsh, who have considerable support from the national association, intensify their focus.

The situation is no different in Indian women's tennis. The application to allow the talented teenager Sunitha Rao of the U.S. to represent India in Fed Cup is with the ITF.

Indian tennis looks set on the right track of development, and it is for the players to ensure, with their quality performance, that they are not left behind.

Professional tennis is as demanding, as it is rewarding. It is time to demand results from the support cast. Leander must be quite tired of carrying the burden, though the great champion does not complain.

He treats it as an honour to shoulder the nation's dreams.

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