More than the hours of toil under the sun, it was a piece of unsolicited advice while traveling in a limousine that shaped Michael Chang’s career.
The American had just lost to Ivan Lendl in an exhibition match in Des Moines, Iowa. While driving back to the hotel, Lendl said to Chang: “Do you want to know why you lost today? You have no serve. Your second serve is like nothing, and you know you move pretty well but you have no weapons. You get a lot of balls back but you have absolutely nothing you can hurt me with… If you don’t work on your game, there’s just no way you’re going to be able to survive out here.”
A year later, in 1989, Chang defeated the then World No.1 in an epic fourth-round match in the French Open, en route to winning the title.
In today’s context, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that Lendl’s words also serve as a brutal assessment of Somdev Devvarman’s game. India’s top-ranked singles player was ousted in the first round for the ninth time this season, losing to unheralded Kazakh Aleksandr Nedovyesov at Roland Garros. After a staggering 2013, where he jumped more than 450 places and was nominated for ATP’s comeback of the year along with Nadal, the 29-year-old has won just two matches on the ATP Tour this year.
Devvarman has often been criticised as being a one-dimensional player and one with no major weapon. He is someone who gets the ball back and waits for his opponent to make an error or hit the winner. It’s a strategy that has paid dividends against lower-ranked players but one that has routinely been exposed against opponents ranked in the top-100 this year.
India’s non-playing Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj and coach Zeeshan Ali have both urged Devvarman to come out of his defensive mould and balance defence with attack.
To his credit, Devvarman has been trying to tweak his game. He has approached the net more often, shown a willingness to be the aggressor and has reduced string tension on his racquet to gain more hitting power.
The transition, evidently, hasn’t been smooth. He has given an impression of being confused and the defeats have hurt his confidence. But Devvarman knows, to survive on the tour — as Lendl put it — change is the name of the game.
Mihir is a Senior Correspondent based in Mumbai.
mihir.vasavda@expressindia.com
