The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rastogi is India's future; Prakash has to cut out his flashiness

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Rastogi is India's future; Prakash has to cut out his flashiness

Vijay Parthasarathy

RISING STAR: Karan Rastogi, presently ranked 480, made good use of his wildcard this time at the Chennai Open. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: Even if Thursday's scoreline suggests a decent first set, truth be told Karan Rastogi couldn't push Rafael Nadal much; the Spaniard played well within himself, and some of his unforced errors suggested that he was exploiting the opportunity to try out new stuff in match conditions.

Rastogi certainly didn't disgrace himself. He took the ball early, approached the net often; maybe he could have tried to prise Nadal out of his comfort zone behind the baseline.

Given time, he could develop his already pleasing volleys, and work on upper body strength. More than that, however, he will need to harness these experiences to develop his mental reserve.

Just as it happened a couple of years ago against Jonas Bjorkman, he ran out of steam against Nadal.

Still, getting to play against the world's best players is crucial, and Rastogi, presently ranked 480, made good use of his wildcard this time.

Next generation

India's Davis Cup prospects are receding by the hour. Mahesh Bhupathi has already quit and it won't be long before Leander Paes, now 33, follows.

The next generation comprises mainly of Rohan Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj and Rastogi.

Bopanna's predominantly serve and volley game has improved significantly since the time he lost to Martin Verkerk 12-10 in the final set of their Davis Cup match in Zwolle, more than three years ago. He has cut down on the unforced errors and his power is more focused.

Morale-booster

He played Federer in the first round at Halle last year and lost 7-6, 6-2. The margin of defeat suggests that Federer didn't have to stretch himself much, and pretty much had the measure of the Indian towards the end; that the unknown factor that Bopanna brought lasted until he came apart. But worse things have happened to Federer's opponents, and the player from Coorg now India's top-ranked singles player would have derived a lot of confidence from that performance.

And a couple of days ago, he ran Mario Ancic even closer in the Hopman Cup, losing in two tie-breaks.

Self-belief

Robert Kendrick's performance against Nadal at Wimbledon last year gave him enormous self-belief and helped him break into the top-100 for the first time, at a relatively advanced stage in his career.

Bopanna's recent results should similarly bring hope. He's still 26, and definitely possesses the game to break into the top-100.

At the moment he's having to invest a lot of effort simply to make the main draw, but the odd good win here and there should push his ranking up by a few dozen spots.

By contrast, Prakash Amritraj, 23, is yet to cut out the flashiness in his game; the lack of consistency is mainly why his ranking has dropped to somewhere near 400.

Like Bopanna, he has a big serve and good hands, but he invariably ends up spraying his groundstrokes. But he might still mature over the next couple of years.

Rastogi is India's future, however. "I've only been a reserve member so far, but we're playing in Uzbekistan next on indoor clay, a surface that I like.

Hopefully I'll be India's spearhead in Cup play inside the next few years." How he copes with that load will shape the country's tennis prospects for at least one generation.

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