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Doubles not getting its due: Cash

Source:PTI
May 16, 2005 20:22 IST

Former Wimbeldon champion Pat Cash regretted that doubles tennis was not getting due recognition and said that the game's governing body should look into it.

"It is sad that doubles is not getting the recognition it deserves," Cash told reporters in Kolkata on Monday.

"It is very spectator-friendly. You get to see breathtaking touch shots which you don't see in singles," he said.

Naming Leander Paes as one his favourites, Cash said, "he is brilliant, but it's a pity that people don't get to see this fine doubles player often as he mostly plays on outer courts."

Asked how he rated India's teenage sensation Sania Mirza, Cash said though he had not seen the youngster in action, he had heard a lot of good things about her.

"She is improving fast. But she needs a lot of luck and has to stay injury-free," he said.

Cash lamented that the number of serve and volley players had dwindled in present day tennis.

"Earlier it was not so. Look at Federer and Pete Sampras. They are very good serve and volley players. That's why they are doing so well", Cash, who had mastered this genre during his days as a player, said.

Asked whether Mahesh Bhupathi and his new partner Todd Woodbridge were capable of striking it big in the doubles' circuit this year, Cash said, "they are experienced players. But then young guys are playing more powerful tennis."

The Australian stressed the importanced of grass in tennis and disagreed with Ivan Lendl's legendary comment 'Grass is for the Cows'.

"Grass will be there as a surface as long as tennis exists."

Cash, who is here to hold a three-day clinic for talented youngsters at the Bengal Tennis Association, said that he would try to impart some techniques of modern tennis to the charges.

"I want to improve their skills in body movement and also streamline their sense of position. Once they learn to take the correct position, they can learn to play their best shots."

Source: PTI
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