Tags:
Journalism of Courage
New Delhi, April 12: More than the absolutely disappointing performance of the second rung of India’s tennis hopefuls, what took centrestage at the $50,000 Servo Indian Oil Challenger was the killing heat which left the players to watch their health than their tennis.
The doctors at the venue were kept busy with complaints of dehydration and accompanied illnesses. That also brought into focus the rather tough, and unimaginative, scheduling of matches held during the hottest time of the day. Instead of early morning and late afternoon sessions, players were forced to play when court temperatures were in the 40s. Poor quality of tennis was possibly the only outcome of that.
However, the Indians on view could not possibly give heat as an hindrance for their performance. Davis Cuppers Prahlad Srinath and Syed Fazaluddin went down in straight sets. Srinath, returning after a lay-off of two-and-a half months due to injury, had little to show for his effort against South African qualifier Wesley Whitehouse.
After a poor first set, Srinath hung on till 5-5 in the second, but played a poor 11th game to lose serve. Whitehouse served out the match with an ace to win 6-3, 7-5.
Fazaluddin, on the other hand, played his serve and volley game, but the hugely built German Andy Fahlke had far too much variety in his passing shots and powerful groundstrokes for the Calcuttan to make an impact. Fahlke won 6-3, 6-4.
Results
Singles (first round): Giorgio Galimberti (Ita) bt Nitin Kirtane (Ind) 6-2, 7-6 (2); Jeff Coetzee (RSA) bt Lorenzo Manta (Sui) 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5); Mathew Breen (Aus) bt Barry Cowan (GBR) 6-1, 6-4; Oleg Ogorodov (Uzb) bt Andres Zingman (Arg) 6-3, 1-6, 6-2; Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) bt Andre Sa (Bra) 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-3; Gaston Etlis (Arg) bt Damien Roberts (RSA) 7-5, 6-2; Andy Fahlke (Ger) bt Syed Fazaluddin (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Wesley Whitehouse (RSA) bt Prahlad Srinath (Ind) 6-3, 7-5.
Doubles (first round): Ota Fukarek (Cze)/Marcus Hilpert (Ger) bt Nitin/Sandeep Kirtane (Ind) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; Breen Mathew/Joseph Sirianni (Aus) bt Abou Berthe (Sen)/Rajesh Vohra (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Noam Behr/Eyal Ran (Isr) bt Prahlad Srinath/Syed Fazaluddin 6-3, 6-4.
