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.

Day 2 - News from Beyond

In news just trickling in from the Juhu gym, Manish has just beaten Champ in a closely fought duel 6-4 to top the Group B by virtue of a better win % (12/19) than Jonty Kandpal (9/17). This means that Manish will now play Group A No.2 Rahul while Jonty will square off against Group A topper Haresh.

We are told that sets between Champ and Manish generally tend to last 90 minutes with the winner eventually being decided when the wife of one or the other drags the loser off the court - fortunately this set seemed to have got over at the stroke of the 89th minute with Manish winning the conventional way with a handshake at the nets.

But as all things AATP nothing is ever simple - apparently Manish in the course of the marathon win over Champ reignited an old flame - a dodgy elbow is now wrapped in ice. As things stand Manish's further participation in the event will only be known tomorrow. The organizers have condescended to give him time to take a call till noon. In case he decides to withdraw, Champ Alreja will be moved up one place into 2nd position while Jonty Kandpal will ascend to No.1 in the group. This would mean that the fixtures would now read Haresh v/s Champ and Rahul v/s Jonty.

Live action begins at the courts (MSLTA this time) from 8:00pm - be there or be square.

More news on the Manish/Champ/Jonty saga at 1201 hours on 26th Oct 2012.

News from the outher reaches of the galaxy

The Juhu Gym committte pulled off a mini coup late last evening by convincing the HAREASH team to award one of its ultra-prestigious matches (incidently involving the 2 new entrants into the AATP fold - Manish and Champbox - both of Juhu gym fame) to the Juhu gym courts instead of the traditional blue and green surrounds of the hallowed MSLTA facility which has been the home of the AATP since its birth.

The organizers were initially hesitant to take this bold step but a little bit of marketing by the reps from Juhu Gym did the trick - after all what better way to spread the gospel and popularize the AATP then to take it out into the starry environs of Juhu. The fact that this match will also be crucial to the fortunes of Group B was an added bonus. While the Juhu gym has guaranteed top billing to this night match, they went out of their way to impress by promising all and any from the AATP a dinner on the house if they took the trouble to turn up.

In another twist A mini controversy did break out on the sidelines  - a few unnamed individuals decided to exhort the organizers to place cameras on court to record the duel between Manish and Champ in order that Jonty might not be robbed off a place in the QFs due to "shenanigans" between the 2 Juhu natives. However gallant jonty declined to be drawn into this affair and said he would be more than happy to accept the score and his fate over the phone.

Updates on the matches will be posted at midnight on the 25th.

Day 1 and we are none the wiser

Top seed and four time AATP champion Haresh has topped Group A at the AATP Masters Championships which got underway at the MSLTA Courts in Mumbai. The younger of the Ramchandani brothers played his usual steady game to first beat Rahul Baijal 6-3 and then defeated Ashutosh 6-3 to advance to the quarter finals where he will meet the player who finishes second from Group B. The outcome of that group, consisting of 4th seed Jonty Kandpal, Champ Alreja and Manish Roopani, still hangs in the balance with a crucial match being held over for Thursday.

In the third match from Group A, Rahul beat Ashutosh 6-2 to qualify as the second placed player from Group A. Rahul will meet the topper of Group B in the quarter finals on Friday.

Ashutosh was visibly struggling from the effects of the dengue fever that he has just recovered from and needed vitamin supplements in between games to sustain himself through the evening. In spite of that, he was able to give Haresh and Rahul a tough fight in both the matches.


Unseeded Ayaz Vasi stormed into the quarter finals of the AATP Masters Championships by topping Group B after easy wins over second seed Rizwan Sumar and Suvir Shah. Vasi served with left hand through both his matches to avoid further damage to his injured right shoulder. Doctors have refrained him from raising his right arm above shoulder level. While many expected him his serve to become his undoing, it actually turned out to be the surprise element as both Suvir and Rizwan struggled with Vasi's slow and high left handed service delivery.

Vasi defeated Suvir 6-0 and then defeated Rizwan 6-1 to come out on top of Group B. In the third match, Rizwan beat Suvir 6-2 to keep himself in contention for a second AATP title. Rizwan will meet Group C topper Nimesh Vora while Ayaz runs into Group C runner-up BR.

Suvir did lodge a complaint with tournament officials after his loss to Ayaz when it was discovered that their match was played with the net being much higher than it should be. However, tournament officials dismissed the complaint insisting that it is the players who need to check the net height before the match starts and that the conditions were equal for both players.


Upset at being sidelines for the no. 4 seeding, Nimesh Vora proved the AATP seeding committee wrong the only way he knew how to - by coming out on top of the Group C at the AATP Masters Championships on Wednesday. Nimesh stunned no. 3 seed Barry Ramchandani 6-1 in the first match of the day, fuelling talk of the decline of the older Ramchandani  sibling. Bharat has failed to reach the finals in the last 2 AATP events and then took to the court against Dr. Malpani, knowing that he needed to win by a huge margin to ensure his spot in the semi finals.

Bharat managed to beat the Doctor 6-2 but the match was much closer than the scoreline suggests. Bharat then watched from the sidelines, hoping for Nimesh to defeat Doctor so that Bharat could survive through to the quarter finals. Dominating with his forehand, Doctor Malpani engaged Nimesh in baseline rallies and ran out a 6-4 winner as the Ramchandani brothers watched nervously from the sidelines.

With all three players scoring one win each, the group standings came down to the Duckworth-Lewis formula of games won percentage out of total games played. Nimesh finished tops with a 58.8% game winning percentage, Bharat finished second with a 46.7% record while Doctor Malpani finished third with a 44.4% record. The standings were so close that had Doctor Malpani beaten NImesh 6-3, he would have advanced to the quarter finals instead of Bharat.

Having topped his group, Nimesh will now meet second seed Rizwan in the quarter finals on Friday in what should be a baseline slugfest while Bharat will take on Ayaz Vasi.

Rain threatens AATP Masters; Players and fans demand roof at MSLTA

The rain gods have thrown a spanner in the work of AATP organizers as
unexpected unseasonal showers hit South Mumbai last evening.

The AATP Masters Championships are scheduled to kick off at 5 pm this
evening but the keeping the rains away is going to be a challenge.
Organizers also woke up to find the roads at South Mumbai wet, which
means there was some overnight rain as well.

The rain has intensified the demand for a roof over MSLTA. AATP
organizers have been in talks with MSLTA officials for several years
now over the issue and will talk to them once again after the event.

The AATP Masters is the only major event in the tennis calendar,
alongwith the US Open, that does not have a roof.

In other news, the draw for the event will be conducted at 9-30 am
this morning and will be sent via a press release shrortly

Philips Eapen to skip Masters; hints at conspiracy to keep him away

Philips Eapen, the only player from outside South Mumbai to win an
AATP title, will not participate in the AATP Masters Championships
that kicks off at MSLTA, Cooperage tomorrow. The Chembur resident,
whose classic serve-n-volley game sends fans back to the days of
Edberg and Becker, had already made plans to take a family vacation at
the exotic hill station Matheran and could not cancel his vacation to
play in the event.

Eapen, who is also the only player not from the Scholar School Tennis
Academy to win an AATP title, has hinted of a conspiracy by the
organizers to keep the AATP trophy within South Mumbai. Easpen’s win
in the fourth edition of the AATP circuit led to a furore as it was
the first time a non-SoBo amateur had won the title. Eapen lashed out
at organizers for not giving him enough advance notice in a deliberate
attempt to discourage him from playing and perhaps winning the title
again. Organizers have rubbished Eapen’s claims and said they are in
discussions with some players from Juhu Gymkhana which proves that
Eapen’s claims have no merit

AATP Masters Tour – October 2012
Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Haresh (1)	Jonty (4)	Bharat (3)	Rizwan (2)
Ashu	Champ	Nimesh	Ayazo
Rahul	Manish	Doc	Suvir

Seeding (indicated in brackets next to the player’s name)

1.       Seeds 1-4 have been awarded based on performance in the last 3 masters – anyone wishing to challenge the wisdom of the organizers may not do so.
2.       Seeds 1 & 2 have been placed in the Top & bottom groups to avoid clashing till the finals.
3.       Seeds 3 & 4 have been randomly picked to be placed in Groups B & C
4.       In a twist of “Fate” brothers Barry and Harry have once again avoided going eye to eye potentially until the finals – luck of the draw or ……….. you figure out.
5.       In the Knockout Stages Group A will go versus Group B while Group C will go against Group D
6.       Player 1 v/s 2 in the QFs.
7.       In the Semis it will be again Group A v B and Group C v D

The ground rules.

1.       All matches will be of 1 regular set (tie break at 6-6) uptil the Finals.
2.       The finals will consist of 2 regular sets (tie break at 6-6) with the 3 set as a Super Tie Break (if required).
3.       Players in each group will play amongst each other to decide standings from 1-3
4.       Top 2 from each group progress to the QFs.
5.       All lines & points will be called by the players themselves – if desired they can request one of the other participants to chair the match but this is purely at the discretion of the 2 players – the organizers take no responsibility of the quality of umpiring

Schedule

League – 24^th October -5:pm – 8pm.  Leftover matches may be completed on 25^th October evening between 8pm  - 10pm.

QFs – 26^th October – 7pm – 9:30pm

SFs – 27^th October – 7pm – 9:00pm

Finals – 28^th October – 5pm – 7pm.

Entry fee

Rs.1000/- per participant – we might even treat you to sandwiches if we are left over with any thing at the end of the day

Suggestions

Please do not bring mobiles, sandwiches, babies (newly minted fathers please note), groupies (wannabe fathers please note) on the court

Rain threatens AATP Masters; Players and fans demand roof at MSLTA

The rain gods have thrown a spanner in the work of AATP organizers as
unexpected unseasonal showers hit South Mumbai last evening.

The AATP Masters Championships are scheduled to kick off at 5 pm this
evening but the keeping the rains away is going to be a challenge.
Organizers also woke up to find the roads at South Mumbai wet, which
means there was some overnight rain as well.

The rain has intensified the demand for a roof over MSLTA. AATP
organizers have been in talks with MSLTA officials for several years
now over the issue and will talk to them once again after the event.

The AATP Masters is the only major event in the tennis calendar,
alongwith the US Open, that does not have a roof.

In other news, the draw for the event will be conducted at 9-30 am
this morning and will be sent via a press release shrortly.

And then there were ten!!!

AATP organizers have announced the addition of two AATP veterans to the field for the AATP Masters Championships which kick off tomorrow at the MSLTA courts.

Ayaz Vasi and Suvir Shah have confirmed their participation in the first AATP event in two years, taking the total number of players in the field to 10. Ayaz has played in 3 of the previous 7 AATP events while Suvir has played in five.

Vasi has been away from the court in recent months due to a chronic shoulder injury but decided to play anyways. Speaking to our reporters on Sunday, Vasi said he may consider playing some/ all matches left handed if his shoulder continues to hurt during the tournament. Suvir is a natural left-hander but there is no reason yet to believe that he may play with his right hand.

Hey I heard you are the wild one!!!

AATP wild child Siddharth Singh Rathore has confirmed that he will not be participating in the upcoming AATP Masters Championships which kicks off at MSLTA tomorrow. The 28 year old Rathore has been away from the courts for the last two months due to a knee injury and after deliberations with doctors and family, he decided to give the event a miss. Rathore’s mercurial talent is matched by his mercurial temperament and in past editions, he has been one of the most exciting players to watch on the AATP circuit.

In a statement released via his Blackberry, Rathore said, “I have still not recovered fully from my knee injury. It has been very frustrating for me but this time away from the courts has only motivated me to come back stronger and fitter. I wish the rest of the boys all the best but I know the tournament won’t be the same without me J”

Rathore has been undergoing treatment for his knee injury with doctors at Mumbai and Daman, and has also had video conference sessions with doctors in Spain, the same specialists who are treating Rafael Nadal’s knees. Rathore is likely to head back to the practice courts next week and after months of emulating Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, unreliable sources have told our reporters that Rathore is expected to debut his ‘Andy Murray’ avatar when he returns following the Brit’s recent win at the US Open.

We are Baccckkkk!!!

The AATP circuit announced the launch of its first tennis event in nearly two years at a dazzling press conference in South Mumbai on Monday morning. Organizers Ashutosh Goel and Haresh Ramchandani, who have kept a low profile in the last two years due to the global slowdown, promised players and fans an exciting extended weekend of tennis at the MSLTA courts starting on Wednesday.

Players currently confirmed for the event include the Ramchandani brothers, Ashutosh Goel, Nimesh Vora, Jonty Kandpal, Rahul Baijal, Champ Alreja and Rizwan Sumar, who is flying down specially from the Middle-East to participate in this event. Organizers are also in touch with several other players and are looking to round up a field of 12 players for the tournament.

The AATP was launched in 2008 by a group of tennis enthusiasts in South Mumbai, who lamented the lack of competitive playing opportunities for amateurs and decided to do something about it themselves. After two successful seasons, the global slowdown had hit the circuit and its players hard. But the slew of reforms announced by the Indian government in recent weeks has led to an increase in sponsor and player interest, getting Ashutosh and Haresh back to the drawing board.

Speaking at the event, Ashutosh said, “We’re glad to announce the comeback of the AATP with our first event in nearly two years. Today’s press conference is just the start. Expect a trail of news, undercover exposes, player updates and quotes and sponsor stories in the days ahead. This is going to the biggest baddest AATP event ever”