While tennis’ also-rans gather in
- For the second consecutive time, the Ramchandani brothers went undefeated to reach the final. And for the second consecutive time, Haresh beat Bharat to keep his perfect record on the tour intact. Haresh termed his 6-2, 6-4 win as his best performance of the weekend while Bharat was left ruing his missed chances after failing to consolidate a break of service on two occasions in the second set. Hard to believe that such talent could have been raised right in the midst of raging gun battles at Nariman House
- Father Ramchandani’s directive to younger son to ‘let Bharat win this time to even scores’ fell on deaf ears. Haresh retained his title and family bragging rights. Bharat retains sole ownership of the family estate
- Famous fertility specialist Dr. Anirudh Malpani reached the semi-finals with some impressive play but found the Ramchandani brothers too hot to handle. After scoring wins over Nimesh and Ashutosh, he lost a close set to Haresh 4-6 in the round robin league and then lost to Bharat 6-9 in a hard fought semi-final. In his post match press conference, Dr. Malpani vowed to get even with the brothers (on the tennis court or in the ‘swimming’ pool)
- Pranav ‘Bhatti’ Bhatija also reached the semis and also found the Ramchandani brothers too hot to handle. Nicknamed ‘Scud’ for his striking physical resemblance to the strapping Australian as well as his similar ball-striking and knee-injuring ability, Bhatti beat Suvir and Siddharth by identical 6-4 score lines; In his final round robin match, Pranav blew hot to build a 3-0 lead and then blew cold as Bharat clawed his way back to lead 4-3. Having already qualified for the semis, Bhatti chose to forfeit the match in order to rest up for his semi final (obviously not taking any inspiration from Andy Murray’s performance in
- Tour debutantes Suvir Shah and Nimesh Vora finished with 1-2 and 0-3 records respectively in the round robin league. Diamond kingpin Suvir gave a good account of himself losing close sets to Bharat and Bhatti before beating Siddharth in the only bagel of this event. On the other hand, Nimesh realized that buying a new racket and new shoes does not make up for lack of match-fitness. Although he lost all his 3 matches in close sets, his dream grudge match against childhood rival Haresh was part of the weekend nightmare he would like to forget. Immediately after, he announced his retirement from the sport but our sources tell us he will be back on the courts in no time
- Tour veterans Ashutosh Goel and Siddharth Singh Rathore also finished with 1-2 and 0-3 records respectively in the round robin league. Ashutosh lost his first two matches to Dr. Malpani and Haresh before beating Nimesh 6-3. Siddharth started slowly in a 1-6 loss to Bharat, and then some sublime tennis to lead 4-2 against Bhatti before bowing out 4-6. In his final match, he was beaten 0-6 by Suvir. Organizers heaved a HUGE sigh of relief as there was no repeat of last time’s WALK-OVER GATE
- The pre-tournament buzz mainly surrounded the size of the draw and the seeding system. As usual, Ashutosh stepped up to the front and executed both to perfection
- The long Republic Day weekend scheduling, thought to be a stroke of genius by co-organizers Ashutosh & Haresh, turned out to be anything but; several interested participants were out of town including Jonty Kandpal who chose to spend some quality time with the missus and junior in Panvel (I can confirm all reports that he was in Hyderabad to meet Mr Ramalinga Raju to be entirely baseless). Other absentees from last time included Rizwan Sumar, who chose not to travel to Mumbai given the current recessionary environment and Anil Goel, out with an injured knee
- Marriage has been blamed as the reason for many an athlete losing their focus and attention. The centuries-old institution claimed its latest victim in Ayaz Vasi who traveled to
- One of the more touching moments of the weekend was Siddharth boosting the morale of brother-in-retirement Nimesh after the round robin matches
- In an effort to become more player-friendly, the organizers arranged for ball boys and Red Bull girls. Next on the players wish list are a speed gun and Hawk Eye
- No-intimation no-show Mr Sunit is the subject of this edition’s X-File. Early reports from our favorite agents Moulder & Scully indicate that Sunit may have been the figment of the fertile imagination of Ashutosh, who is the only person who has claimed to have been contacted by this unidentified foreign object (S.O.S. to Bijal who still has a few weeks to star in 2009’s Runaway Bride)
- Interested participants for the next edition in March include a certain gym dog millionaire and a former hitting partner of Leander Paes
- And let’s end this recap with a shout out to the guys in
