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!!!!!!!!!