You know foreign players are in town when the tournament menu card at the MSLTA (Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association) explains idli-sambar as rice cake and lentil soup, and aloo parathas as potato pancakes. And when the dishes are devoid of all spices.While the chefs do their bit for the foreign palate, Indian players at the ongoing $10,000 ITF tennis tournament are offering scant consideration for these visiting opponents, peppering their games with uncharacteristic flat, hard serves which are surprising the guests.Indian hospitality, it seems, stops at the kitchen.Natasha Khan, a 21-year-old British national with Pakistani parentage, went down to Mumbai girl Sagarika Phadke earlier on Tuesday and couldn’t stop shaking her head. ‘‘These young Indians hit the ball really well,’’ she admitted.Khan is part of a four-member strong British challenge comprising youngsters just out of school, and finding their feet on the professional circuit. While Khan realised that India wasn’t the smoothest of tracks to hit the ground running, her travelling coach John Hicks, a veteran at Queens Club, had set out on his maiden Indian journey believing it was an ideal initiation for girls debuting on the tennis-tour. ‘‘The standard is just right for players coming in,’’ he maintained.From being a convenient stopover on way to tournaments in Indonesia and Philippines, women’s ITFs in India are gaining new respect as competitive draws where it is difficult to subdue the emerging crop of flat-hitting Indians. Pocketing easy points and steamrolling rivals just got difficult in India, and we are yet to mention the S-word.Naomi Cavaday, who did manage an easy outing, was guarded in her analysis of the competition. ‘‘The standards are much higher than I expected,’’ she said. In tennis terms, Great Britain has struggled in the women’s event, with their highest ranked player Elena Batacha pegged at 122, and Cavaday conceded that talent hasn’t exactly come through, though youngsters are travelling to remote places picking points.In India, they are easily identified due to their slit skirts and strappy tops.A little less boisterous than the British bunch is Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan, who is in Mumbai with mother-cum-coach Marina. Speaking slow, precise English, the 15-year-old admitted that Indian standards were a revelation. ‘‘I might move to Russia if my country (where she is the top player) does not help me while I climb the ranking ladder,’’ she said.Wondering aloud about the spectacle of men and cars moving together on Mumbai’s streets, Palkina added that her taxi driver had been especially friendly, helping them find fruits when she told him of her Russian-connection.The shock of the perennial heat, hotter food and bumper-to-bumper taxis negotiated, now there are the gutsy Indian players to tackle.Early-round exits mean hunting for Pashminas and Kolhapuris, convenient buys ahead of Christmas: those things never change.
