Chennaiyin Football gets Italian seasoning

In recent times, top quality sporting action in Chennai has been hard to come by. But for the annual Aircel Chennai Open and last year’s chess world championship match, the city has missed out on quite a lot.

I-League football, the Indian Badminton League, the Pro-Kabaddi League and the Asian Athletics meet have all passed the city by. Even the Indian Premier League (IPL), whose most successful team is the Chennai Super Kings, was shifted out this year.

The inaugural Indian Super League football too seemed destined for a similar fate until a last minute switch from Bangalore gave the city a franchise to root for.

So, on Monday, when the team’s player-manager Marco Materazzi, a World Cup winner with Italy, made his first-ever visit to the city, it was understandably a cause for celebration.

From the outset, the club seems to have left no stone unturned in appealing to the local community. The team is named Chennaiyin FC, which roughly translates to ‘Chennai’s FC.’ Its logo Duradrishti is known as the Drushti Bommai in local parlance and is usually kept to ward off evil forces.

The event to unveil the club’s logo too checked the usual boxes.

Co-owner Vita Dani started with the traditional ‘Vanakkam,’ even as Materazzi, whose team is currently training in Bangalore, said he wanted to be amid Chennai’s people as early as he can.

And for the city’s football fans, Materazzi seems to be a prize catch.

An Inter Milan legend, his role was instrumental in Italy winning the FIFA World Cup in 2006. But more than the Cup, the defining moment was him being head-butted by Zinedine Zidane. Wherever he goes, there is no escaping this incident, immortalised in the form of a gigantic bronze statue in Doha. Asked about the same, he cheekily answered, “Which defining moment? Me scoring the goal? Scoring the penalty or holding the cup? I know what you are talking about. Thanks.” The hope is now for this intelligence and relaxed demeanour to be transferred to his players on the football pitch.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/chennaiyin-football-gets-italian-seasoning/article6436620.ece

Leander in no mood to stop

It is said that the current era in sports is one of instant gratification. Longevity comes at a premium. It seems an athlete like Steve Redgrave or Carl Lewis or Ryan Giggs, with a career spanning decades, is hard to come by.

Closer home, Sachin Tendulkar will always be the gold standard for longevity and sporting excellence. But for making a mark in a sport more global and more athletic than cricket, Leander Paes needs special mention.

It is well known that he has played for more than two decades. So is the fact that he has played six Olympics which no tennis player has done. It is also well known that he became the oldest man to win a Major title in the Open Era at the US Open in 2013.

But something which is not very well known is this particular Davis Cup record. Even captain Anand Amritraj pleaded ignorance.

When he and Rohan Bopanna combined to win the doubles rubber against Serbia last weekend, it was his 41st doubles win in the competition. No other active player has more. Also, he ranks only below Italian Nicola Pietrangeli, who has 42 wins. Paes also has the most number of wins (doubles & singles combined) among active players at 89.

A record such as this, in the most individual of sports, during the decades when players were least bothered about turning up for their countries, is indeed stellar

“It’s his greatest achievement,” says Zeeshan Ali, the current India coach who was Paes’s first Cup partner in 1990, of his longevity. “It’s a miracle. Tennis careers are short, mind you. One thing that has still not changed [since 1990] is the fire in his belly. It particularly stands out while playing for the country.”

Something that’s equally noteworthy is his 97 different partners on the tour.

In fact, his youngest partner Sanam Singh, at last year’s tie against Indonesia, was three when Paes became a pro in 1991.

“He carries his partner very well. He just lifts his teammate’s game,” says Zeeshan. This ability was on display when he and Bopanna, teaming up after a gap of two years, battled to victory against the established Nenad Zimonjic-Ilija Bozoljac pair.

Paes is now 41. Yet he is in no mood to stop.

One more year of Davis Cup can get him past Pietrangeli; two more years of tennis, can make him the only living athlete to compete in seven Olympics — both achievements which will help him leave in a blaze of glory.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/leander-in-no-mood-to-stop/article6416959.ece

India slip back into Asia - Oceania; Serbia stays in World Group

Serbia, on Monday, kept its seven-year date with the Davis Cup World Group.

Filip Krajinovic’s 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Yuki Bhambri in the rain-delayed fifth rubber made sure that Serbia stayed in the company of the elites even as it consigned India to at least another year in the Asia–Oceania Group.

After third-ranked Spain’s relegation to Group I for the first time since 1996 on Sunday, second-ranked Serbia plummeting along with it would have been a bitter pill. But the fans world over, thankfully, did not have to swallow it.

A 12 p.m. start meant that the players were set to work in alien conditions. And a working day ensured that the number of spectators could be counted.

“It was not easy,” said Krajinovic.

“After watching the Somdev match, I was waiting all day. I was playing 2-2 for the first time in my life in Davis Cup. After the delay, it was mentally very hard. Today physically it was hard. It was very humid.”

When it got underway, nothing seemed to matter. Krajinovic broke immediately to serve for the second set at 5-4.

No forehand

Bhambri’s backhand worked ever so well. An instance of which stood out was when, pinned deep behind the ‘T’ he hit a remarkable cross-court double-hander. But he undid all that with a non-existent forehand.

His ploy was to play first-strike tennis. But in his desperation to go for winners, he overcooked most of them.

In the third set, thrice on Krajinovic’s serve Bhambri had him on 0-30, 0-30 and 15-40. But he took none of those chances. The 22-year-old Serb served big on each of those instances. He taught Bhambri the advantages of game which flows from the serve.

“I have had chances all week,” said Bhambri after the defeat. “I just didn’t take them. It’s disappointing. There is more disappointment considering that others played well and I didn’t deliver.

“Whatever I did, didn’t work and I repeated the mistakes from the first match. We need to go back and start all-over again.”

Fruitful year

The past year has seen many gains for India. Under a well-respected captain, the team looks as closely knit as ever. Performances on court have also followed.

Not many gave them a chance even against a team sans Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki. A 2-3 result should do them a world of good.

An ideal springboard for future successes.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/serbia-stays-in-world-group/article6414053.ece

Devvarman and rain deny Serbia

Sporting comebacks can be of two kinds. One spurred by a single game changing moment and the other by the sheer force of will. Somdev Devvarman’s, on Sunday, was the latter.

In one of his most memorable wins, he dragged the India-Serbia World Group play-off tie to the fifth rubber with a 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Dusan Lajovic.

Rain gods then ensured that the decider between Yuki Bhambri and Filip Krajinovic was pushed to Monday with the former trailing 3-6, 4-4.

At the outset, Lajovic was clearly the better player and dictated terms. He served with his usual vigour and his signature backhand clicked whenever summoned. The counter-puncher in Devvarman could do nothing but play catch-up.
 

Struggle with serve

Devvarman’s serving was always a struggle. Until the seventh game in the second set, he faced break points in all his service games. He then compounded those problems with some doublefaults.

“I just kept telling myself that I need to give myself a chance,” said Devvarman. “When you are playing below average and still fighting through, you know that at some point you will get chances.”

That chance arrived towards the end of the second set. Lajovic’s level clearly dropped. His first serve wobbled. He did hit his second serves well enough, but Devvarman, who had until then chosen to stand way back, started attacking it with verve. It helped him cut down the angle and meet the ball before it drifted too wide. On the world number 61’s serve at 4-5, Devvarman converted on his first set point.

“I was serving well and playing well,” said Lajovic. “All of a sudden, I got tired. It is unusual. I never get tired. I am pretty fit. But today I got tired in the middle of the second set and (it continued) right till the end of the match.”

After the second set, the momentum was with Devvarman. And, when he raked up 4-1 lead in the third, Lajovic sensed he had a real match on his hands, the 90-odd ranking places separating them notwithstanding. That he responded showed why he was a top-100 player. He went on a roll, winning five games in a row to pocket the set 6-4.
 

Jittery affair

The fourth set was a jittery affair for both. Devvarman found his serve to be a problem again. Lajovic broke him twice. But the 29-year-old Indian broke back each time. He ran down balls, went around his backhands and made Lajovic work that extra bit.

With his opponent serving at 3-4, a superb return and a down-the-line backhand winner gave Devvarman a break. That was his best return game till then and he backed it up by holding serve, with an excellent stretch volley to conclude the set and square it at two apiece.

Unlike in his match against Filip Krajinovic, Devvarman, after initially struggling to volley, didn’t dump the idea. At first, when he started serving-and-volleying on second serves, it seemed a desperate tactic. But it came off.

He would continue it into the fifth set apart from moving an already exhausted Lajovic end-to-end. A particular time when it clearly showed that the Serb was a spent force was in the third game when Devvvarman retrieved two inside out forehands and in desperation Lajovic hit the third way wide of the tramline.

In the same game, a forehand shank from Lajovic gave Devvarman the first of the breaks. Another break in the seventh game to 5-2 pretty much sealed it. An inside-out winner followed by a winning forehand signalled the end to Lajovic’s challenge.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/davis-cup-devvarman-delivers/article6410417.ece

India lives to fight another day

Doubles play in tennis demands implicit coordination between partners.

For the first two-and-a half sets on Saturday, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna failed to do that and as a result struck a discordant note.

But ultimately they hung on, pulling themselves back to defeat Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic 1-6, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3, 8-6 in two hours and 58 minutes and keep India alive in the World Group play-off tie. Serbia now leads 2-1 with Sunday’s reverse singles to come.

Until the end of the fourth set, it was a game of two parts. The Serbian duo breezed through the first set 6-1. The three times Paes and Bopanna were broken they collected a paltry three points.

With four players on court, doubles doesn’t leave too many safe areas to exploit. But for most part of the first two sets, Zimonjic and Bozoljac often drew Bopanna wide and ensured that Paes was left to man the entire court.

Bopanna was the weak link in the second set as well. His half-volley pick-ups, when the balls were drilled to his shoelaces, more often than not popped up for the easy put-away. His volleying ranked only marginally better.

The Serbians on their part blew hot and cold. Bozoljac, with an unpredictability to match Bangalore’s weather, was broken early to give India a 3-1 lead. Yet after Serbia found a way to level at 4-4, he played his best service game to hold to 5-4.

Later in the tie-break, Bopanna’s weaknesses — the pick-up and the volley — appeared in tandem, while trailing 4-5, to help Serbia move ahead.

Then, when Serbia broke to 3-2 in the third set, it seemed as if India had to reconcile itself to at least another year in the Asia-Oceania Group I competition.

But the silver lining appeared in the form of a neck injury to Zimonjic.

Serbia lost its way from there. From a break down at 2-3, the Indian combo reeled off four games in a row to take the set 6-3. Then, an early break of serve in the fourth halted the crowd in its steps, for some had already begun to make a beeline towards the exit gate.

Zimonjic’s problems while serving meant that the serves which were loaded with vicious top spin in the first two sets, now seemed bereft of any venom. He double-faulted on break point at 3-5 to hand India the set.

In the fifth, however, the Serbian duo regained some of the lost ground. Zimonjic loosened up and served better. Even his stretch volleys, which had earlier drifted wide and long, landed inside the court.

But, the Indians’ game had improved, too. Paes — whose serving was perhaps the only jarring note — was as canny as ever at the net.

It rubbed off on Bopanna and led to what was arguably the shot of the match — a masterful half-volley pick up guided for a cross-court winner in the 10th game.

The decisive break came when Zimonjic was serving at 6-7. A double fault at 15-30 gave India a match point and a Zimonjic forehand that went wide, the match.

With the victory, India lives to fight another day.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/davis-cup-paes-and-bopanna-rally-to-win-doubles/article6408359.ece

India on the brink after day one

One win from two would have made India feel good. But all that it could mange was one set and thereby the worst possible result.

First Dusan Lajovic and then Filip Krajinovic dismantled India with surgical precision to give Serbia a 2-0 lead on day one of the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie.

Playing a tactically excellent match, Lajovic first bested Yuki Bhambri 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 under the warm afternoon sun. A much cooler evening awaited Somdev Devvarman but there were to be no pleasant memories as Krajinovic blunted his challenge 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Both Bhambri and Lajovic were initially tentative. It seemed like a recce of sorts; for, much of the pre-match banter was dedicated to the high-bouncing surface and how it could all go awry if power and top spin were not happily married.

Lajovic found the right mix at the fag end of the first set; Bhambri didn’t throughout. He had 59 unforced errors.

“It's always tough playing in Bangalore,” said Bhambri after the defeat. “You might not be able to control your shots and I think that’s what happened today. I also feel I might have given him a bit too much respect.”

But Lajovic has much to like about his game. His is an elegant service motion and a neat one-handed backhand, nurtured on video clippings of Pete Sampras in full flow, and a second-serve — not as good as his idol’s — but still effective. He served five aces to Bhambri’s zero, three of them on second serves, and executed a few down-the-line backhands, including the one to go one set up.

It took eight set points for the World No. 61 to wrap up the first set. Once done, the second set was spent deepening his hold over the match. It fell 6-2. But it also led to Lajovic switching off early in the third as his opponent ran ahead 4-1. Bhambri then had a break point to stretch it to 5-1, but squandered it and let the 24-year-old back.

There was a particular moment at 4-4 in the third set on the Bhambri serve which was the match in a nut-shell. The ball popped up mid-court, waiting for an extravagant flourish from Lajovic.

But it was treated to a load of top spin, pulling it back just in time for it to kiss the inside of the tramline and drift away for the winner.

Lajovic played well within himself; not extravagant, but solid enough.

But Krajonovic made up for all the aggression that Lajovic didn’t show.

Equally adept at the net as well as the baseline, he took the first set in a scamper — 6-1.

While Devvarman did well to negate the bounce off the court, the balls instead sat up for Krajinovic to pick his spot and force through the winner. Also, his volleying left much to be desired.

 Devvarman gave himself a chance in the second. He stayed with his opponent, and rallied well. A four-deuce game ended with him breaking for 2-1. Then a hold from 0-30 gave him a 3-1 lead. He went on to win the set 6-4 showing the kind of fight he is generally known for.

 But it soon ended. After failing to open-up the third set even after forcing Krajinovic to a couple of tough holds early on, his confidence broke. What followed from then on was more academic.

 “I didn’t feel like I was volleying well,” he said.

“So I stayed behind on baseline in the third and fourth sets. I knew Filip was a good player, but I wasn’t good enough. It was very frustrating because I set the points up well, created opportunities, but could not finish.”

 The result gives Serbia the chance to close out the tie on Saturday. While Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic will be hoping for that, the Indian pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna would want to do everything that can give Devvarman and Bhambri another chance to salvage it.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/serbs-surge-to-a-20-lead-on-day-one/article6406795.ece

Can India get back among the elite?

There was a time, not so long ago, when top nations found it tough to get their best players on board for the Davis Cup. It was best captured in the words of Tom Gullikson, the United States captain in the late 1990s, when he said, “If it gets to the point that where one has to get down on both knees to persuade players such as Sampras and Chang, perhaps it is time to make the team obsolete.”

For the less-established of tennis nations, however, it was more about national pride; a rare opportunity to beat the big boys and give their fans some electrifying moments to savour. One need not be a sophisticated tennis aficionado; just an allegiance to the country would do.

But, of late, this equation seems to have undergone a mutation. ‘The spirit of tennis’, as one writer chose to call it, is torn between being ‘global’ or ‘nationalistic’. For the players it’s become the latter, as evident from the fact that this week alone stars like Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be turning out for their respective countries around the world.

For the fans it’s the ‘global’, as seen by the frenzy accompanied by the massive surge in ticket sales when the arrival of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in India seemed possible. Djokovic eventually pulled out, citing personal commitments and fatigue, but not before offering further credence to the changing face of the competition.

It is against this setting that India takes on Serbia in the World Group play-off, starting on Friday, amidst pristine surroundings at the Cubbon Park.

At stake is a place in next year’s World Group. After having languished in the regional Asia-Oceania Group I competition for the past two years, and briefly flirting with the danger of slipping to Group II, India is a step away from being among the elite-16 in the world.

Unfamiliar territory

For Serbia, the second-ranked side in the world, this is unfamiliar territory. It has made the quarterfinals or better in each of the past four years — champion once and finalist once — before losing to Switzerland in the first round this year.

On paper, things are loaded in favour of the Serbs. Dusan Lajovic and Filip Krajinovic, the two singles players, are ranked World No. 61 and 107 and Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri, 144 and 153. Devvarman has lost once to Lajovic, on clay in a Challenger last year, and has played Krajinovic one time each in 2009 and in 2010 with a head-to-head record of 1-1. Bhambri has met neither.

But, Devvarman is a much better player than the numbers suggest. Early this year he and Lajovic, at one stage, were ranked 102 and 103, before criss-crossing each others’ paths. Devvarman reached the seventies even as Lajovic was still finding his way from the hundreds.

A remarkable run for the 24-year-old Serb — he reached the fourth round of the French Open before losing to Rafael Nadal — gave him something to cling on to and work his way up, while Devvarman lost his foothold and plummeted.

Low profile

At the draw ceremony held at the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka, it emerged that Bhambri will open things against Lajovic, a schedule which the 22-year-old Indian said fits him well. Through the three days, Bhambri has kept a low profile. A victory in what Lajovic described as ‘an open match’ might just uncork the emotions in him.

In the second singles, Devvarman, who meets Krajinovic, insisted that he and Krajinovic are ‘completely different players now’ compared to the time when they met twice.

Captain Anand Amritraj had earlier said that if Djokovic had travelled, India would have had to win the “other three” matches. In his absence now, it has a chance in all five. A 2-0 on the first day might be too much of a luxury; 0-2 almost a death-knell. A 1-1 will set up the tie nicely, and for that to happen, one of the Indian players has to upstage the rankings.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/can-india-get-back-among-the-elite/article6401963.ece