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.