Diego Digs In

Venezuela's long wait for its first ever grand slam tennis champion may soon be over! By winning the prestigious AATP Masters 999 tournament at MSLTA, Diego has proved to the world that he is the real deal.

It wasn't an easy ride though. Playing against multiple time champion Bharat Ramchandani at his home turf was hard enough; he also had to block out a largely "Ramchandani-partisan" crowd, ignore the fact that the there were a number of tennis celebrities watching, and perhaps most crucially, overcome those pesky butterflies in his stomach. Leading 4-0, 5-2 and 7-4, Diego tightened up while facing the inevitable surge from Bharat and watched his lead slip away. Suddenly those blistering forehands from his own racket caught the tape or fell inches long; Bharat on the other hand seemed to have found his mojo after a sluggish start and was now dictating the points, catching the lines, winning the big points.

Serving at 7-8 to level the set, Bharat finally blinked with an inopportune double fault. Two points later, Diego was celebrating his first major championship title while Bharat was left with the knowledge that a slow start and a couple of points at the end was the difference between the winners trophy and the runner up plate.

"It's nice to know that at this age we are still able to give the young guns a great run for their money", said Bharat at the presentation ceremony. The youngest player in the draw may have won the title, but the man over 20 years his senior had matched him stroke for stroke, error for error, point for point, winning the respect of all who watched the final.

"I feel like i've almost grown up watching tennis legends "He Who Must Not Be Named"  and Mr. F Shroff play, and to win a big final while they were in the audience, to be presented the cup by "He Who Must Not Be Named" .. it's an honour" said the youngest ever AATP champion. "And to have won after playing against amazing players like Rakesh in the semis and Bharat in the finals.. i feel like I'm dreaming!!!"

And so ends this edition of the AATP Singles tournament, leaving us with moments and memories... Jonty's inevitable come back from 2-5 to wear down Sanmesh; Raja hitting a sudden glorious unexpected winner from nowhere; Rakesh's booming serve; Afraz pumping himself up on court; Haresh getting knocked out by his elder brother; Bharat's come backs and spectacular volleys; Diego launching into the forehand... "I feel like I'm dreaming"...

wait this is not the end......

even as the AATP was busy announcing the next pitstop in the calendar in February'16, the ATP somehow got wind of these plans (leaky MSLTA walls) and since late last night the Aussie Open seems to have taken back stage for the ATP, as the entire management team has been on the line with the AATP Committee requesting them to push back the schedule to avoid a clash with the Dubai Open which currently seems to fall on the same dates. If the AATP is to go ahead and announce the February schedule, the Dubai Open will be in serious jeopardy as not only will the audience but even some of the marquee players probably be lining up outside the MSLTA gates clamouring for an entry. To add to the ATPs consternation, star Tour Fan Rizwan Sumar who is leading AATP operations in the Desert has unequivocally announced his support for the AATP event - he will play the AATP irrespective of dates, ATP be da.....m....d!!!! ( i cannot use his actual words in this intolerant times)

The ATP has offered to sweeten the deal by offering premium seats to the Committee members at the Aviation Club to watch RF and Nole battle but the organisers so far are resisting these temptations.

Courting Controversy!!!!

Barely 24 hours into the AATP Masters 999 singles tournament, controversy is at the fore once more. Close on the heels of the tennis fixing scandal that has raised its ugly head on the international scene, the AATP tournament has been rocked by all sorts of disputes and allegations.

Just hours after the last match was completed at 165 Maharshi Karve Road, the organisers were slapped with an unofficial notice for draw rigging. The notice claimed that the organiser has, with predetermined foresight & malicious intent, doctored the draw to create the "group of death" and eliminate the strongest players from appearing at the semi finals. When contacted, a spokesperson for the Ramchandani brothers had this to say..

"we all know what is happening here. there are serious attempts being made to take some players down. past winners are being clubbed together for no reason. can you imagine nole and roger being made to play each other in the first round of wimbledon? i feel bad for players like Mr. Raja who could have and should have made it to the semi finals if not for this unfair treatment."

Even before the organiser could respond, another thunderbolt was heard from another direction. Apparently one of the players was extremely upset that his opponent was not disqualified for flinging his racket at the ballboy during the match. "My opponent, this young upstart, lost the point and threw his racket at the ball boy, hitting him hard on his hallux. He should have been disqualified there and then, but he was allowed to play on. My protest is not because he then managed to overcome a 0-3 deficit and beat me - no, its about the principle of the thing. rules are rules. If Tim Henman, David Nalbandian and most recently Jelena Ostapenko have been disqualified, who is this guy to escape it?? AATP cannot function this way. I intend to seek legal counsel" When informed that (a) Jelena Ostapenko had NOT been disqualified and (b) his opponent was, in fact, a lawyer himself, the claimant mumbled something that sounded like "i'll break his wrist, let's see how he plays the semis.."

But by far the most serious issue has cropped up just a few minutes ago. EndieTV reports that Mr.Modi, while following the matches live from Chandigarh, was shocked to see AATP blatantly disregarding his "Make in India" initiative and vowed to take immediate action. "How can we allow this?" said Modi. "Don't we have enough players in India? How can you solicit and allow a Venezuelan boy to take part in such a prestigious national tournament? At least you could have waited until I visit Venezuela first? If Diego is not expelled from the tournament immediately, I will have your faces blackened by my henchmen. Besides, everyone knows that tennis racket strings are made from cow guts which are now banned for use - you should stick to organizing kabbadi only. if you want to play tennis, go to Pakistan or Venezuela!" 

Diego's scheduled opponent in the semi's Mr. Rakesh commented by email to this development saying that the law of the land should be followed and Diego should not be allowed to participate. "The fact that I will thus get a walkover in the semi's is immaterial. I don't mind the disappointment of giving up the chance to play one extra game - as proud Indians we should all do what is best for the country!"

What more could possibly go wrong? Stay tuned...

The AATP Master's 999 returns.......

They said it couldn't be organized. They said there wouldn't be enough interest. or even if there was, no one would turn up in the end. And that wasn't enough, mother nature had a say in it too, with a blizzard causing mayhem in the lives and flights of 2 star participants. Seems even mother nature was saying "this shall not be"...

They were all wrong!! After (4?) long years, The AATP Tennis Tournament  was back, and with a bang!!!

New faces, old war horses, new formats, old rivalries, improved games, tighter nerves, it was all on display at the MSLTA courts in Mumbai this Sunday morning. 10 of the worlds best amateur tennis professionals came out all guns blazing for some sensational singles action. The format: 2 group of 5 players each. Round robin matches within the groups, each match was a single ad-all set. The top two players from each group would go through to square off in Tuesdays semi-finals.

The draws were conducted at 7.45am. Ashutosh, Bharat, Haresh, Rakesh, and Raja made up group A; Afraz, Ayaz, Diego, Jonty, and Sanmesh filled up Group B.

There were questionable aces and uncalled foot faults, moon balls and flung rackets, yells of anguish and shrieks of delight. No quarter asked, certainly none given. And when all the dust had settled, Bharat and Rakesh (in that order) topped group A while Diego and Afraz (in that order) came through from Group B.

[for more details on the group match scores, please submit your RTI form duly filled in triplicate claim at the organisers office]

They said it wasn't going to be any fun at all....

IT WAS!!!!!!!!!

Haresh and Rahul set up semi-final showdown

Top seeded Haresh Ramchandani and unseeded Rahul Baijal scored one-set
wins to set up a semi final showdown at the Sports365 AATP Masters
Championships at MSLTA, Cooperage last evening.

Haresh, a four time AATP champion, defeated on-the-coneback-bend Jonty
Kandpal 6-3. Haresh started quickly to lead 4-0 before Jonty fought
back to 3-4. Haresh regrouped to win the set 6-3. It was a commendable
effort from Jonty anyways who had picked up the tennis racket this
week for the first time in six months.

In the other semi-final, doubles specialist Rahul beat AATP debutante
Manish Roopani 6-3. Manish was playing with an injured elbow, which he
hrut during his round robin win on Thursday. Still, Manish, being the
gracious sportsman that he is, refused to blame the loss on his
injury.

Haresh and Rahul have already played once this week, in the round
robin stage, which Haresh won. Haresh has been somewhat of a thorn in
Rahul's AATP career with several of Rahul's losses coming at the hands
of Haresh.

This semi-final will be played at 8 pm today.

Breaking News - AATP signs on Sports365.in as sponsors for the ongoing Masters

AATP organizers have pulled off a major coup by signing online sports
and fitness goods retailer Sports365 as the sponsor of the ongoing
AATP Masters Championships.

Sports365, a Bangalore based company, is an online sports and fitness
goods retailer, offering a wide range of quality products,
accessories, footwear and apparel at great prices. The venture is
promoted by India's top doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi.

As part of the sponsorship deal, Sports365 will be offering discount
vouchers for their site to all participants at the Masters. While ATP
pros are fighting with Grand Slam officials in order to increase prize
money for early round losers at the four majors next year, AATP
officials have decided that all participants wiill receive equal prize
money i.e. same discount vouchers for all players, irrespective if
they lose in the first round or win the title.

AATP's equal prize money initiative has been described as a
masterstroke by tennis enthusiasts across the nation as well as by
Communist parties in the country. CPI (M) and Trinamool Congress have
reached out to organizers Ashutosh and Haresh and offered them tickets
to the next legislative elections in West Bengal as a direct result of
this effort.

AATP president Ashutosh Goel commented, "At this time, we have our
hands tied with the AATP Masters. With the Hikal Cup going off the
Mumbai corporate tennis circuit, we are also thinking of holding a
corporate tennis championship in early 2013. We will think about
CPI(M) and Trinamool's offer only after that. Also, we would sincerely
like to thank Sports365 for coming forward and supporting our tour. We
hope this is just the beginning of a long friuitful association
between us."

Haresh celebrates his 2nd anniversary

AATP top seed Haresh Ramchandani had a special celebration for close
friends and family last night on the two year anniversary of his
Facebook page "Tennis Chronicles".

The part time AATP pro and part time tennis writer/ blogger, who
squeezes in a banking job in his free time, created his Chronicles
Facebook page exactly two years ago to the day and since then has seen
his online following grow rapidly. More than 5,000 people from across
the world currently follow his Indian tennis centric page on the
social networking site Facebook, in which Haresh has a
0.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% stake.

Speaking to our reporters on the occasion, Haresh commented, "It was
thanks to my blogging for the AATP that I discovered my flair for
tennis writing so I would like to thank all the folks there who gave
me such positive feedback and encouragement. From interviewing Rizwan
and Philips in the MSLTA cafeteria, to meeting Sania, Mahesh and
Rohan, it's been wild ride and a dream come true. I always found it
hard to find news on Indian tennis players given that our players
mostly compete in the minor leagues. Hence, Chronicles is my attempt
to provde a one-stop platform for all those who are keen to follow
Indian tennis."

When asked about the highlight of the day, Haresh said, "The best gift
I received yesterday was when Martina Navratilova retweeted my page to
her followers on Twitter. Martina and me go a very long way back. I
used to watch her on Doordarshan playing those Wimbledoon finals
against Steffi and thats where my passion for the game began. So her
gesture means the world to me."

For those who are not on the page yet, here's the link to Chronicles -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Haresh-Ramchandanis-Tennis-Chronicles/106612526073357

Like Sania, Rahul also contemplates a return to singles (we are talking about tennis not marriage)

Looks like Sania Mirza is not the only Indian tennis star who is
contemplating her future career in singles. AATP pro Rahul Baijal
finds himself in the same dilemma as the WTA pro after spending most
of 2012 focussing on doubles.

Rahul has had a history of knee trouble over the past few years and
has been playing more doubles in the last 12 months in order to
prolong his playing career. But after beating Ashutosh and giving top
seed Haresh a run for his money to advance to the quarter finals of
the AATP Masters Championships, Rahul is giving second thoughts to his
singles career.

Speaking to our reporters on Sunday before the event, Rahul said,
"When I play singles, I get too agrressive and competitive which
increases the chances of my knee getting injured. If I'm injured
again, I will be out for a few months atleast and the comeback will be
very hard. I would like to play till the age of 50 hence I am
focussing on doubles which is easier on my body."

But the hedge fund manager has a different thought process after his
performance on Wednesday. "I think I gave a good account of myself
even with such limted singles play in the past year. Maybe I should
singles more often. Let's see. In my heart, I know I want to but I
just dont know if my body will cooperate. I will be talking to my team
over the holidays and taking a decision soon."

There were rumours about Rahul teaming up with Sania for the
Australian Open mixed doubles. But with Rahul unsure of his singles
committments yet, Sania has decided to play the mixed doubles event in
Melbourne with ATP world no. 1 Bob Bryan.