Spotlight on Becker, Rafter

CHENNAI, April 5: In 1974, MGM produced That's Entertainment, a compendium of musicals made by the studio over the previous half a century. ...

CHENNAI, April 5: In 1974, MGM produced That8217;s Entertainment, a compendium of musicals made by the studio over the previous half a century. The film was so successful that two years later, MGM released That8217;s Entertainment, Part II which also went down well with the cinema going audience.

Indian tennis8217; version of That8217;s Entertainment, Part II commences at the Nungambakkam stadium on Monday. The Gold Flake Open, an ATP Tour event which so caught the public fancy during its inaugural run last year, is back in the city which is the tennis capital of the country. And if it was big last year, it promises to be even bigger this year.

All the doubts 8212; for one reason or the other 8212; whether Patrick Rafter or Boris Becker or Leander Paes would be playing in the tournament can now be laid to rest. Paes made an appearance at the venue on Sunday and confirmed that he would be playing both singles and doubles. And Rafter and Becker have not withdrawn which means they should be flying here once their weekend DavisCup commitments are over.

So a field which includes the current World No 4 and reigning US Open champion, a three time Wimbledon champion who is a tennis icon, the leading Indian player, and Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde who, besides being the top doubles team in the world are also renowned singles players in their own right, does not compare unfavourably with last year8217;s field which included the reigning Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, the Wimbledon runner-up Malivai Washington, the holder Thomas Enqvist, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and of course Paes. Like last year, there are eight players in the top 100 but the icing on the cake this time is the added attraction of seeing two of the top doubles teams on the circuit the Woodies and our own Paes-Bhupathi.

And if the supporting cast was strong last year, so is it this year. Magnus Norman, Mikhael Tillstrom, Alex Radulescu, Jonathan Stark and Andrei Pavel did provide moments of enthralling tennis, culminating in the dream final betweenTillstrom and Radulescu. But then this year8217;s supporting cast too is pretty formidable. Tillstrom is back to defend his title and so are Pavel and Stark and adding a touch of elegance will be the two Frenchman Arnaud Clement and Jerome Golmard.

In the beginning then, one supposes that all eyes will be on Rafter and Becker, the Woodies and Paes. But there are a number of dangerous floaters in the draw and one wouldn8217;t be surprised if the winner emerges from the supporting cast, as was the case last year.

There is little doubt that the presence of Rafter and Becker would go a long way into lifting the Chennai event into elite company. But then maybe the event is already in upper class company, as it is classified as a World Series event on the ATP Tour. The Tour is played in only 34 countries and there are only 53 World Series events on the entire circuit and of these just seven are held in Asia.