CHENNAI: Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka advanced to the quarterfinals of the 19th Chennai Open with a straight-set victory over Germany’s Benjamin Becker here on Wednesday. The World No.8 defeated Becker 6-3, 6-1 to move into the last 8 stage.
However, the new tennis season, which only just got underway, is already taking a toll on the players here.
While second seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny, the winner of the 2008 edition, spent just 20 minutes in the middle before conceding his second round match against Israel’s Dudi Sela with a stomach ailment, his countryman Alexander Kudryavtsev, a qualifier, threw in the towel with a set in his pocket (6-1, 0-3) against Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia. German Julian Reister had pulled out midway through his first round match on Tuesday citing stomach cramps.
Fabio Fognini, who is nursing a strained calf muscle, has already pulled out of the doubles draw, denying fans the opportunity of watching his partner Leander Paes in action and the third-seeded Italian is likely to announce his withdrawal from the second round singles match on Thursday. He is scheduled to play India’s Yuki Bhambri.
Youzhny, who was trailing 1-3, said he didn’t have the energy to continue the match. “I tried my best, but it wasn’t possible.
“When you have restricted a movement, it’s no use to play on centre court and losing. I think I contracted his virus during my pre-season camp in Thailand. I feel sorry for the spectators,” said Youzhny.
Wawrinka, however, didn’t have any early season blues. The world no.8 breezed past Becker with a clinical victory to reach the quarterfinals. The action lasted just under an hour, but was twice interrupted by rain.
The only time Becker troubled Wawrinka was during the eighth game of the opening set that followed a rain break. The Swiss’ momentary lapse resulted in two double faults and Becker had a chance to break Wawrinka’s serve. But he regrouped quickly to save the break points. Warinak served out the match in style with a love game.
Youzhny heads tennis ‘smashers’ list
Youzhny heads tennis ‘smashers’ list
DC/ SANTHOSH KUMAR
Chennai: Tempers are bound to fly in gripping tennis matches, but it’s the racquet that suffers collateral damage. If there had been an award for breaking the most number of racquets, volatile Russian Marat Safin would have won it hands down.
His compatriot Mikhail Youzhny, who is the second seed at the Chennai Open, is marching ahead with the torch in hand leaving a trail of mangled graphite and twisted guts.
Youzhny once required medical attention during a match after smashing his racquet on his forehead. At the 2013 French Open, he whacked his racquet nine times — as per YouTube evidence — on the back of his chair en route to a fourth round defeat against Tommy Haas. “Whenever I break my racquet it’s to force some changes in my game. It has worked sometimes and helped make a comeback,” said Youzhny.
Benoit Paire, seeded No.4 here, is also a leading member of the racquet abusers’ club. Paire, hates bottling up emotions and says breaking racquets is “a stress buster”.
“When the going gets tough and if you are playing really bad, you get an urge to give vent to your frustration. The closest and the safest option is breaking your own racquet,” said Paire adding that the violent method of letting out one’s feelings could affect the opponent’s concentration.
The Frenchman, however, has taken a pledge for the new season: not to dismantle his weapon anymore. “I know it shows me in poor light and it’s not a good advertisement for my sponsors either,” said Paire.
Ball girls on duty at Chennai Open
Ball girls on duty at Chennai Open
DC/Hari Kishore M
Even as we are engrossed in watching a tennis match, its hard to ignore the ball boys who scamper on the court to gather the ball. These ball boys form an integral part of any tennis match and it is no different in the Chennai Open too. However, this year’s tournament has seen something different, ball girls too donning the hat.
T. Ravichandran, a coach with the Triangle Tennis Club, is the ball boy supervisor at the SDAT Stadium. “One of the pre-requisites to be a ball boy is that, one has to be associated with any tennis club or a coaching club in the city as we source youngsters from those clubs,” said Ravichandran.
For the event starting in December, the process of sourcing starts in the month of October itself. “We send notices to all clubs by October and by November first week we had around 100 trainees for selections,” said Ravichandran. They are then put through an intense six-week training regimen working on their agility, tennis knowledge, and behaviour before the final selection. “After the six-week training, we short-listed 60 of them based on their interest and reflexes on the court,” he added.
This year’s Chennai Open has seen some firsts in this regard too. Seven ball girls have been selected apart from the 53 boys. “We wanted to recruit girls too this year to give them the opportunity to learn and use this opportunity as stepping stone in their tennis dreams,” said Ravichandran.
G.S. Vasavi, who is in her tenth grade, was visibly excited about her assigned duty on the center court. “I am a tennis player myself. I am happy that the organisers have selected girls too this time as this will give us an opportunity to understand the game in terms of ball speed, the technical aspects of shot-making from very close quarters,” she said.
S. Lavanya, who is studying engineering in Sairam Engineering College in the city, also shares the same views as her colleague Vasavi. “It is a learning experience for us. I got to understand the recovery time each player gets in between games and how he gets back his focus after losing a point,” she said.
Apart from their excitement and learning, they get to earn their daily pocket money as well. The TNTA gives a stipend of '75 for one session (six hours) and '150 for two sessions (twelve hours) apart from food, water and medical attention. A. Magimaidhas who is coming here for the eighth time says the additional perk of stipend serves as motivation to come back every year.
Ramkumar inches closer to Davis Cup call
Ramkumar inches closer to Davis Cup call
DC/ C. SANTHOSH KUMAR
CHENNAI: Over the years, the Chennai Open has served as a platform for Indian players. A few made the most of it while a handful others failed to capitalise on the opportunity. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi began their brilliant journey here with a doubles title in 1997 and it was the same stage where Somdev Devvarman enjoyed a dream run in 2009.
Ramkumar Ramanathan has been a revelation of the ongoing 19th edition. If the local boy caught the attention of many by coming through the qualifiers, he captured the imagination of tennis fans with a sensational win over India’s top-ranked player Somdev Devvarman in the main draw on the New Year eve.
As Ramkumar pounded a cross-court forehand winner to complete the upset win, two men seated behind him on the sidelines celebrated jubilantly. For Chandrasekaran, who has been coaching the boy since he was eight, it was a rewarding moment and the other proud man was Karti P. Chidambaram, Ramkumar’s mentor.
Karti, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, facilitated numerous trips to Barcelona-based Sanchez-Casal Academy where the youngster polished his game in quest for a professional journey. The academy has been a cradle of champions, having shaped the careers of Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Grigor Dimitrov et al.
According to Chandrasekaran, the TNTA deserves a lot of credit for providing Ramkumar the best of facilities. “He played many tournaments in Spain and Sergio Casal, his coach at the academy, puts a premium on physical conditioning. His hitting partners were quality players. The academy imbibed in him the values he needed to confront the challenges of going from junior to professional category,” said Chandrasekaran, who was once a travelling coach of Somdev when he was with the erstwhile Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy.
Ramkumar’s chief weapon, Chandrasekaran says, is his forehand. “He also has a good serve and has improved his backhand a lot. But he has a long way to go. He is willing to learn,” added the coach who spotted Ramkumar at Triangle Tennis Trust’s coaching programme.
The 19-year-old Ramkumar had a whale of a time on the court by getting the crowd involved with war cry and fist pumps. “Even when some of his shots found the net, he never looked worried,” Chandrasekar said.
As the Indian Davis Cup team is in dire need for good singles players who can complement Somdev and Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar could not have chosen a better time to peak. Anand Amritraj, non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team, has already hinted that Ramkumar is on the radar for the forthcoming Asia Oceania Group I tie against Chinese Taipei to be held at Indore from January 30.
After his defeat, Somdev acknowledged the emergence of a challenger for him. “You have to give the guy credit. He played about 20-odd matches on the Futures circuit and won a couple of tournaments coming into this event. He moved around really well,” said Somdev.
The TNTA has already spent around '1 crore on Ramkumar and Karti promises that the support would only get better. Ramkumar has already pocketed 32 ATP points for his efforts and he is expected to take a big leap when the new ranking list comes out on Monday.
Kids’ day out at Chennai Open
Kids’ day out at Chennai Open
DC/ Hari Kishore M
CHENNAI: The first day of 2014 turned out to be unforgettable for children from various tennis clubs in the city as they got to learn something new from established players in the game. Vasek Pospisil, Yuki Bhambri, Sanam Singh, Balaji N.Sriram all took time off from their Chennai Open preparations to play tennis with around 70 players, aged 6 to 14.
The air was full of excitement with music on at full throttle. Many parents recorded the session through modern gadgets for posterity.
Pospisil was undoubtedly the most popular of the lot with the kids. A tongue-in-cheek comment from host Charu Sharma on asking the parents to pay a fine of $200,000 in case Pospisil gets injured elicited a roar of laughter from the crowd. Pospisil even joined the fun by simulating a hamstring injury.
The heavy afternoon drizzle did not force the kids to scurry for cover. The arrival of Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj added colour and importance to the occasion. Vijay gave the youngster tips on backhand and slice.
Vijay was elated to see many kids taking an interest in the game and parents supporting them. “I would like to ask the parents to concentrate on the quality of your kids’ practice as opposed to the quantity of tennis.
“Also, beware of injuries that can dampen the spirit of your children,” he said. The most famous player from the Amritraj family called for an emphasis on attacking play.
He cited the aggressive style of Yuki that helped him win the first round at the Chennai Open. The kids’ clinic came to an end with the participants clamouring for autographs and photographs from the stars before carrying home a memento and an experience of a life-time.
Mayer shocks Murray
Mayer shocks Murray
Agencies
Doha: Wimbledon champion Andy Murray started the new year with an immediate setback when he was beaten 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 by Florian Mayer, the world number 40 from Germany, in the second round of the Qatar Open.
It was only Murray’s second match on the ATP World Tour after a four-month absence caused by a back operation and the loss is a worrying disappointment for the Scot as he tries to rebuild his match fitness.
The result was even more of a stunner because Murray had led by a set and 3-0 before faltering, and once his opponent had gained momentum there seemed no way of stopping it. A former top 20 player, Mayer began playing to that level, forsaking caution and attacking with brilliant variety with angled drives, net approaches and occasional drop shots.
“It was amazing,” said Mayer. “He was up 6-3, 3-0 and the match seemed almost finished. “I don’t know how I came back. I played fantastic tennis. In the third set maybe he was injured, but I played well. I just decided to go for it, I played aggressive and tried everything: I had nothing to lose any more.”
Although in the circumstances Murray’s loss was not such a surprise, the manner of it was. He had started very well, breaking Mayer’s serve in the fifth and ninth games, and surging on with rhythmic ground strokes in the second set.
But he became increasing defensive as Mayer imposed himself on the match, and after letting slip two break points to reach 4-2, Murray hurled down his racket and flung away his sweat bands. Soon afterwards he asked for the physio.
But it did not help and Mayer grew more confident as Murray’s body language slumped. He double faulted and dropped serve at the start of the third set.
Federer cruises into quarters
Federer cruises into quarters
Brisbane: Top seed Roger Federer cruised into the quarter-finals of the season-opening Brisbane International with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen on Wednesday.
The Swiss maestro, who has proved hugely popular in Brisbane this week, did not disappoint his many fans as he broke Nieminen once in the first set and twice in the second to power to victory in just 68 minutes.
The former world number one dominated the Finn with his penetrating groundstrokes, but also tried to come to the net many times throughout the match — a favourite tactic of new coaching adviser Stefan Edberg.
Federer warned his opponents that he would only get better as the tournament progressed. “I expect myself to play a bit better in the next match, even though today was already very good for a first match in so many weeks, to be honest, and against Nieminen who can play very good tennis,” Federer said.
“Now I have doubles tomorrow and the singles the next day, so it’s really good for the rhythm and good for your game.”After a cautious start Federer broke Nieminen in the fifth game, coming from 40-0 down to win the next five points and gain the vital advantage.
He then broke Nieminen’s first two service games of the second set to take complete control, closing out the match by holding his serve to love. Federer now takes on Marinko Matosevic in the quarter-finals following the unseeded Australian’s 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 win over American Sam Querrey.
New Racket for Swiss star
New Racket for Swiss star
Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer is reportedly banking on his new racket to boost his chances to top the tennis rankings again after he made a winning start with his new equipment on Tuesday in the Brisbane International.
According to CNN, Federer used a larger 98-inch racket head against the previous 90-inch one during the doubles game after trialling it in Dubai during his off-season and will now use it at the Australia Open.
Azarenka storms past Dellacqua
Azarenka storms past Dellacqua
Brisbane: A dominant Victoria Azarenka sent a warning to her opponents after demolishing Australia’s Casey Dellacqua in the second round of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
Second seed Azarenka had far too much firepower for Dellacqua, winning 6-3, 6-1 to book a quarter-final berth against unseeded Swiss Stefanie Voegele. A day after top seed Serena Williams was pushed hard by Andrea Petkovic, Azarenka was never in any trouble against Dellacqua.
The Belarusian smashed 18 winners and made only 11 unforced errors, making 75 percent of her first serves in a solid start to the year.
The world number two, who won her maiden WTA title in Brisbane in 2009, beat Williams in an exhibition in Thailand late last year and showed enough to suggest she would be a danger to the
American both in Brisbane and at the Australian Open, where she is defending champion. “First match, I think, you can’t look for perfection in the first match because you will always be a little bit rusty and still feel a little bit of hesitation,” Azarenka said. “If you look overall, I think it was a good match.
“I took my chances on the important moments. I did a few mistakes, but that’s very normal.”
