The Hindu : Sport : No better way to usher in the New Year

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 03, 2005

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Sport

No better way to usher in the New Year

By Ramesh Krishnan

CHENNAI, JAN. 2. It is nice that the ATP tournament stays on in Chennai in its new `avataar' as the Chennai Open. With the active involvement of the Government of Tamil Nadu, along with the support of so many well-known Chennai businesses, this is an apt name for the tournament.

I can't help going back to the days when I was a teenager, particularly since I have two teens at home who are very keen on tennis. This is back in the 70's when I was their age. During that whole decade, the main action that a tennis enthusiast like me could watch were the two Davis Cup ties held here.

Both these ties were against Australia. In 1973, the Aussies were represented by John Newcombe (one of the top players in the world then) and Mal Anderson (a Grand Slam titlist). As a twelve year old, they left an impression that is still very fresh in memory. And by the time of the second tie in 1979, I was a part of the Indian Davis Cup team and got to see the action at close quarters.

Barring these two events during that decade, a tennis lover in Chennai did not get much else to see. Of course, this was before days of telecast of matches. You could read about the exploits of the champions only in print, or listen to radio broadcasts and use your imagination to fill in the gaps. I have a hard time explaining this to my children.

And in the 1980's things got worse. The Davis Cup matches moved up-country, and Chennai, the tennis capital of India was totally cut off.

All this came to an end in 1997 with the ATP Tournament coming to Chennai. Of course, by then, we had this beautiful Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium. And the tournament started off with a bang. In the first four editions, we had the reigning Wimbledon, US Open, French Open and the Australian Open Champions in action right in our backyard. And this is not even including Boris Becker, one of the most charismatic players in the game.

The year 1998 stands out in my mind. Boris Becker brought in the fans and Pat Rafter showed us how top class serve and volley tennis can be played, even on a surface not conducive to that style.

Our own Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have also stamped their presence in this tournament. Their first big title was here in 1997 and they went on to complete a hat-trick in 1999. Four titles here in all, I am sure they look back at this tournament as their springboard to all their successes. They have fond memories of this event just as we of their matches. They were able to bring in a Davis Cup style energy into the crowds. In the last few years, the local challenge has been minimal. But we have happily adopted Paradorn Srichaphan as one of our own. In the past three years, he has reached the final, won the title and reached the final again thereby ensuring that there was plenty of excitement right through the final day.

In fact, I feel we saw some of the best tennis in Chennai during the last edition. Last year's semifinals — Carlos Moya over Scheng Schalken and Srichaphan over Tommy Robredo were of the highest quality. This was followed by a humdinger — Carlos Moya edging past Srichaphan in the last few points of a final set tie-breaker.

Happily for us, Moya and Srichaphan are back. Even if they can recreate some of that magic, we are in for a big treat. I can't think of a better way to usher in the New Year.

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