Going Solo

But this year, with Bhupathi injuring his shoulder, Leander is going to concentrate on the singles circuit. quot;Getting a wild card entry into the ATP Goldflake Open is a great chance for me.quot; The winner of the ATP Challenger Cup, in Jaipur, last month, this tennis player has played 8230;. in his hometown Chennai.

Regardless of the outcome, Leander is gearing up for the real biggie. quot;The Olympics are another big event for me, this year.quot; In 1996, he won the bronze medal in the Singles category. This time he wants to better his record. quot;I would also like to enter the Doubles but I am not sure if Mahesh will be better by then.quot; And finding a new partner is not easy as Leander found out when he tried looking for one for the Goldflake Open. quot;I had to look for a partner very late in the year and was handicapped 8212; everyone else had already teamed up.quot;

In the long term, Leander wants to do something to help the future of tennis in India. quot;Tennis has grown a lot as a sport here. But after Vijay Amitraj there was a gap and India has no really good player on the circuit. To keep tennis going as a sport we need better infrastructure for the game.quot; Leander himself trained, for five years, at the Amitraj Academy. quot;There needs to be a better nurturing of talent and I would like to open an academy that is on the lines of the Ramesh Krishnan Academy in Chennai.quot; But before all that, Leander wants to improve himself. Currently ranked 166 in the world, in Singles, his focus for the year 2000 is on improving this. quot;I really want to improve my singles track record.quot;