Indians faring poorly in Maharashtra Open at home is not good news
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Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan
The ATP made its debut in India in 1996, when the first edition was held at the dusty RK Khanna Stadium in the capital in April. Swede Thomas Enqvist walked away with the title. After just one year, realizing the crowd response was poor in New Delhi, the event was shifted to Chennai, erstwhile Madras. Madras was the home of tennis for more than one reason.
It’s the same city that produced two touch artist maestros — Ramanathan Krishnan and son Ramesh. The famous Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand, also hail from the southern metropolis. Now, both spend more time in the USA. The best thing which Vijay could have done for Indian tennis was set up the BAT — Brittania Amritraj Trust — a residential academy that produced champions like Leander Paes, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bronze medallist.
BAT shaped many more careers like Gaurav Natekar, Asif Ismail, and a few more, though all did not make it big like Leander. For a city that has a sporting culture, it embraced tennis with open arms. Initially, when the event was moved to Chennai in 1997, it was during the April heat. Malivai Washington was a big draw at that time in the first edition.
Boris Becker, even past prime, Pat Rafter, Rafael Nadal, and his famous coach Carlos Moya, all graced the ATP event in Chennai. Moya was a super-hit, and won titles galore, though Nadal, in those days, was beatable. The sad part is, even though Chennai was a great host, Indians never seized the opportunity, especially in singles.
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Nagal, Dhamne bomb on Day One in Maharashtra Open in Pune
Leander rocked with Mahesh Bhupathi in doubles from 1997, though the veteran tried his best in singles as well. Rohan Bopanna was another hard trier. Then came the likes of Somdev Devvaraman, Yuki Bhambri, and names we still hear — Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, and company. Sadly, despite all the hype and money spent on hosting the ATP event in Chennai, Indians never did well in singles.
There were no “returns” in terms of titles for Indians, it became more of a good “fan spot” where watching big names in action was synonymous. The ATP caravan rolled into Pune five years ago. Again, nothing much has changed as far as the performance of Indians is concerned. Barring Yuki Bhambri, who hangs on to a protected ranking, and Ramkumar qualifying, the rest are still dependent on wild cards to make the main draw or even for the qualifiers. That’s a sad commentary on Indian tennis.
On Monday, Manas Dhamne bombed at the box office on Day One, again a grim reminder that Indian tennis is in the dumps. Agreed, Dhamne is young and needs to be worked upon. If past experiences are to be taken as a sample, he has to produce great results in the next few years. To expect him to do well at the ATP Tour events is unrealistic. To be sure, much was expected from Sumit Nagal, a rustic Haryanvi from Jhajjar.
From the highs of being in the top 150, Nagal now languishes in the 500-region in rankings. It’s a mighty fall, accentuated by injuries. He did battle it out in club tennis in Germany even during the Covid 19 pandemic. However, at 25, Nagal knows he is not getting younger. Someone like Mahesh Bhupathi saw potential in him and Nagal was fortunate to get funding from the Virat Kohli foundation. On Monday, Nagal also fell by the wayside in Round 1.
Nagal struggled in Germany, for funds in 2021. Being a pro tennis player is hard. Only the top 50 earn well. The rest struggle, literally. Indian tennis is filled with such case studies where players have turned coaches or markers. Some who made it big as TV commentators include Vijay and his son Prakash Amritraj. The sad part is, with the season’s first ATP just having begun in Pune, singles performances from Indians have been weak.
Reasons are many but lack of training in fundamentals is one big reason. There are plenty of tennis “coaching shops” in India but there is no academy that produces champions or molds youngsters with potential. BAT was the first and last such academy. Hosting an ATP in Pune involves big money and sponsors coming on board.
In between, for two years, even Mumbai hosted an ATP event with Kingfisher as sponsor. The big question is when will Indians do well in singles tennis? Hope 2023 can be a different year, even if it sounds weird!
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S Kannan
(382 Articles Published)