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Needed: A matching patronage
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From Tenkasi to Wimbledon, his climb to the pinnacle in tennis speaks volumes about his ability, writes T.SARAVANAN
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EVERYONE NEEDS a role model to inspire him or her to strive for success, though there are some who can motivate themselves on big occasions. One such person is the tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan. His prowess in the field is a known factor. His number three world ranking and his two Wimbledon semi-final appearances are still to be bettered by any other Indian Tennis player to date. But not many knew that he is equally good at articulation. Though simple, his views on Indian tennis were quite thought provoking.
From Tenkasi to Wimbledon, his climb to the pinnacle in tennis speaks volumes about his ability. After his phenomenal success in the international circuit, the game received a great fillip in the country where hockey was ruling the roost.
With a tag of rich man's game, it became extremely difficult for the tennis to flourish in India. But after he left, there was a big void with no one to fill it. Then came the young crop of players such as Amirtaraj brothers and Ramesh Krishnan followed by Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who kept the Indian tri-colour flying.
With Leander and Mahesh already in their thirties, there is a big question: Who is to become the next torch bearer of the country in tennis. Is there a dearth of tennis talent?
`No' comes an emphatic reply from Mr. Ramanathan Krishnan.
"There is quite a number of talents in this country, but what they lack is international exposure, whatever the exposure they get would not suffice as the international tennis is getting highly competitive. Till recently, there existed an undisputed tennis champion who reigned supreme in every single tournament he participated. Pete Sampras belongs to this class of tennis players. But now, the bookies are keeping their fingers crossed till the last minute of the final to find the champion. This is the international scenario in tennis," says the two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist.
"We should try to exploit our strengths rather than play to the strengths of the rival. There is also a wrong notion which is doing the rounds is that the physique of the Indian boys and girls are not suited for this game. It is absurd if one took these words true. There are a lot many examples who have come out with flying colours," says Mr.Ramanathan Krishnan.
"But one thing, which is haunting Indian tennis is the paucity of funds. We are earning rupees and in a position to spend in dollars for the tennis expenditure, which is quite unthinkable for middle class boys. Hence people call this game rich man's property. But if there is a will, there is a way. If the talent is good enough to compete in the international arena, then he may get a good sponsor, who would take care of his expenses for participating in international tournaments," he explains.
"Though we conduct a good number of Futures and Challenger tournaments in our country. Still these championships do not attract cream of talents. But the good news is the ITF Tata Open has become a regular. I hope this tournament may bring lot of talents into this game," he says.
"The present day players such as Harsh Mankad, Prakash Amirtaraj and Rohan Bopanna are good bet for the future. They are good at the national level. But their ability to win matches at international level still remains to be seen. If these players have to sustain the good record our players have created for the country, they have to play well enough in the ensuing Davis Cup matches against New Zealand," says Mr.Ramanathan Krishnan.
"In an attempt to encourage new talents and to tap the potential in mofussil centres, we have started our own coaching centre Krishnan Tennis Centre at Kottivakkam. Quite truly we were able to find couple of talents such as Vinod Sridhar and Arun Prakash who have bright future. But the need of the hour is funds," he states.
There was quite a lot of substance in his words as he expected the State Government along with the corporate sector to come out of their shackles and to contribute freely to the promotion of this game in a big way.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
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