Rastogi ends Roys tantrums

There were few calls in the match which Roy felt didnt go in his favour

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Rupesh Roy isnt the coolest head on the tennis circuit. On Tuesday,in the Kolkatans first round match,at the ITF Futures tournament in Noida against Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy,he had several run-ins with the chair umpire,and had received a warning for ball abuse.

Things carried on in the same vein during his scrappy second round match against number two seed Karan Rastogi,which the man from Mumbai went on to win 7-6 6-2. There were few calls in the match which Roy felt didnt go in his favour. Early in the match,Roy put on display a few McEnroe moments not in tennis but in behaviour. You cannot be serious, he yelled at the umpire following an unfavourable call to a deep return while at break point down in the sixth game of the first set.

It was left to tournament referee Keith Sweeney to enter the court to try and calm down proceedings,something he said doesnt happen very often. There was no respite however,as it only became Sweeneys role to play the lightning rod.

The frequent interruptions clearly seemed to affect Rastogi,and unforced errors started creeping into his game. With Rastogi leading 5-4,Roy got his first break point with a backhand slice down the line and got the break when Rastogi missed a regulation forehand. Serving at 0-40 and 5-6 down,it was Rastogis turn to vent,although he only turned and shouted at the fencing at the back of the court. Rastogi knew he was in danger of dropping a set.

I knew that I was getting flustered so I took a moment and regained my composure, said Rastogi later. In a long rally,Rastogi waited for Roy to make the error which he invariably did. The set went into tie-break,but with Rastogi on the ascendent. Roy made further errors but managed to scream,Thats horrible, at another unfavourable call one final time in the first set.

Despite going down a break in the second set,Rastogi was clearly getting the better of the exchanges and at least handling the frustrations a little better. He broke back and started picking the rise of Roys backhand slices that were causing him trouble in the first set. While Roy did make plaintive challenges,the points flowed only one way after those first two games.

Rastogi eventually took the set six games to two with Roy floating another backhand long. I guess the heat got to us, said a smiling Rastogi after the match. We cant expect to get favourable line calls all the time. You do get unfavourable line calls from time to time. Im guessing Rupesh cracked under the pressure, he said,before adding,But luckily I didnt.

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