Srinath-Panja bring in joy if not optimism

NEW DELHI, JAN 8: The sneaking suspicion is that Indian tennis players cannot win on their own. They need to have company, preferably on c...

NEW DELHI, JAN 8: The sneaking suspicion is that Indian tennis players cannot win on their own. They need to have company, preferably on court, to make them realise that they too can win matches on the Tour. Prahlad Srinath and Saurav Panja have exceeded expectations and if they made up for the absence of the injury-ridden hotshot doubles pair, it could only be that both Srinath and Panja realised that swinging racquets can pay dividends, at times.

Srinath, who garnered most points during the recent Indian Satellites, and is still serious about his singles has reasons to be disappointed with his singles because he has only been able to cross very minor milestones, like having a better ranking than Mahesh Bhupathi.

Entry into the doubles final of a Tour event is an achievement by itself more so for Panja who, after showing considerable promise as a junior, has failed to make any impact even on the domestic scene. A journeyman on the Indian circuit, Panja has done well for himself and and can go fromChennai with a feeling that finally he has achieved some degree of success. About four years ago, after producing results among juniors Panja trained in Australia for a year but could not make the transformation to the senior ranks. He has been languishing ever since before he hit the jackpot at Chennai.

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The surprising factor is of course Srinath, the pro who never really thought highly about doubles and was perforce playing in it merely because he had to keep himself in some shape. The success at the Golf Flake Open can inspire the Mysore man to take doubles more seriously. There are two examples which prove that dismal singles ranking should not necessarily translate into poor doubles record as well.

The Srinath-Panja success will, hopefully, be seen in the right perspective. There is no room for any optimism to begin with simply because it was one of those days when Srinath returned the best he ever did and Panja, despite all his inadequacies, merely managed to swim along. There is still hope thatSrinath would do something in singles and try and achieve success in moderate levels.

For the duo in Chennai, let’s enjoy this good passing phase, for even that doesn’t happen in Indian tennis very frequently.