Creating a Racket

When Sania Mirza won the Wimbledon junior doubles last year, Leander Paes welcomed the news by saying the game in India needed 8216;8216;f...

When Sania Mirza won the Wimbledon junior doubles last year, Leander Paes welcomed the news by saying the game in India needed 8216;8216;fresh blood8217;8217;. In the eight-odd months since, the progress chart of Indian tennis8217;s GenNext has been steadily on the rise. The highlights have been Karan Rastogi8217;s semi-final appearance at the Australian Open and, a day later, Sania8217;s first win on the senior tour, but there have been enough other indicators see box to suggest that Leander8217;s wish is coming true.

On the senior front, the men 8212; Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad and Rohan Bopanna 8212; are steadily catching up with the Big Two. Prakash, ranked 316 in singles on the ATP Tour India8217;s best won three Satellite legs on the trot last year. Rohan, having hovered in the 300s, has begun to win matches in Challengers. he8217;s also developed into a player on whom India could bank heavily in their Davis Cup campaign.

8216;8216;Every performance is extremely significant in its own way8217;8217;, says California-based Nirupama Vaidyanathan. 8216;8216;With the same kind of attitude and resolve results are bound to come.8217;8217; Nirupama 8212; at one time ranked 132 in singles, the best by an Indian woman 8212; believes every match takes a player a step ahead.

And the performances of her successors have thrilled her. Having moved out of a system that offered little to women, she is delighted with the turnaround. 8216;8216;There was just one tournament when I played8217;8217;, she says, calling the changes 8216;8216;drastic8217;8217;.

As Sania focuses on systematic, steady progress, the rest 8212; particularly Isha Lakhani, currently India8217;s best at 375 on the WTA ranking 8212; aren8217;t far behind. Megha Vakharia, Rushmi Chakravarthy and Ankita Bhambri constantly play ITFs in India and neighbouring countries.

Sania8217;s latest feat, winning the 10,000 Boca Raton Classic Women8217;s ITF event in Florida last week, has proved wrong those critics who dismissed her achievements as a junior and said only the senior tour mattered. Sania ranked 461 during that tournament says the singles win and a runners-up in doubles at Boca Raton was her 8216;8216;best performance and by far the toughest8217;8217;; she beat players ranked in the 300 region.

However, the most happening segment in Indian tennis is the junior section, which Ramesh Krishnan calls 8216;8216;a high point over the years.8217;8217;

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Leading them all, after Sania8217;s graduation, is Mumbai8217;s Rastogi, who has been in peak form in the past year and is a member of the current Davis Cup squad. 8216;8216;He ought to aim high8217;8217;, says Jaidip Mukherjea, who believes Karan should now play senior tournaments too.

8216;8216;Talent is abundant in India8217;8217;, says Mukherjea, but laments the lack of 8216;8216;performing coaches in quantum8217;8217;. He also underlines the other factors that hinder growth: 8216;8216;In India it8217;s a calculated risk, choosing between academics and sport. And, after a point. financial support becomes a major reason to drop off.8217;8217;

It8217;s a point echoed by Nirupama: 8216;8216;It8217;s the coaching and attitude and not the system 8217;s responsible for the success.8217;8217;

		WHO8217;S DONE WHAT IN PAST 6 MONTHS

			Sania Mirza: Won first women8217;s title at 10,000 ITF at Boca Raton, Florida Karan Rastogi: Included in Davis Cup squad at 17 yrs, semis of Australian Open juniors, first Indian to reach a final of Gr-I tourney after Leander Sharan Divij: QFs: 2, Asian Closed Juniors, Gr-B2, Hong Kong Open Juniors, Gr-II Tushar Liberhan: F 3; SFs 1 Tara Iyer: At 15 US-based Iyer became the first Indian girl to reach a Gr-A ITF Jr QF at the Copa Casblanca, Mexico, in January Navdeep Singh: Bagged Dhaka Gr-4 title in January Rupesh Roy: Won the ITF Dhaka, Gr-III title, Moved up big to No 81. Bagged a double crown at ITF, Gr-III, Kolkata SENIORS Prakash Amritraj: ranked 265 in the first list of ATP rankings in January followed by Harsh Mankad 329; Rohan Bopanna 356 Mahesh Bhupathi: won his 32nd doubles title at Auckland Leander: reached final of Australian Open in mixed doubles Two Indians in Top-400 on WTA Rankings: Isha Lakhani 376; Rushmi Chakravarthy 400

Anil Khanna, secretary of the All-India Tennis Association, says the change was due to 8216;8216;opening up avenues by way of different level/grade tournaments that could help our players.8217;8217;. This major restructuring was started way back in 1998, Khanna says, 8216;8216;and is paying off now8217;8217;.

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Specifically, the appointment of former Davis Cupper Enrico Piperno as girls8217; coach for two years was the first step to achieving this high goal. 8216;8216;It8217;s a collective effort. A full-time coach, someone associated with progress norms, is necessary8217;8217;, Khanna adds. 8216;8216;Big leaps Fed Cup weren8217;t even a dream in the past. Now with a structure in place things look better.8217;8217;

The recognition that much has already been done comes from the ITF, whose Executive Director Dave Miley gave India a Top-6 world status of hosting high number of tournaments in a year. 8216;8216; The depth has increased and more Indian players are ranked than ever before8217;8217;, he said.

Is there anything missing? Yes, says Mukherjea: more academies. 8216;8216;Regional feeders for the existent National Academy at Gurgaon are needed8217;8217;, he says.

The AITA8217;s aim, says Khanna, is not to increase the number of academies but the number of coaches, and better coaches, at each.

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Either way, a boom time for tennis looks on the cards.