The Rediff Interview / Rohan Bopanna

An 'ace' up Indian
tennis's sleeve

Nagraj Gollapudi

If you define the modern day male tennis player as a six-foot-something hunk with a booming serve and big groundstrokes, complemented by a broad physique, then you have found one in Rohan Bopanna.

The 21-year-old is all of 6'4" in his socks and has got one of the fastest serves on the Indian circuit. He complements his big serve with smooth flowing strokes on both flanks of the court and has very strong forehands that come lashing down the line.

All these attributes have seen him hog newspaper headlines for the last one year. If you take a glance at the Indian tennis scene during this period, Bopanna's name will stand out. And rightly so! His career graph is on the up and the best moment in his life arrived last month when he won his maiden International Tennis Federation's Futures title in New Delhi.

Seeded number six in the tourney, the 576th ranked Bopanna bounced back to beat Dmitri Mazur of Uzbekistan 7-6(5) 5-7 6-4 in the final. Bopanna, who had won the doubles part of the event the previous day, pairing up with Vijay Kannan, was inconsistent against the 549-ranked Mazur. However, he found his rhythm when it mattered to win the most prestigious title of his life.

Next week, the India No. 2, was again in the thick of things, this time at the National Grasscourt championships, in Kolkata. Given the top billing by the organisers, and fresh from his victory in Delhi, Bopanna was the favourite; he was expected to improve on his previous year's performance in the championship (he had lost in the semi-finals in 2001). However, he was made to bite the dust in the second round by prolific youngster Sunil Kumar Sipaeya.

Saying the ITF crown had come at the right time, a thrilled Bopanna said it was a wonderful feeling to have won his first major title. "It was really big for me since I had lost two Futures's finals previously; I did make it up this time. It was a wonderful feeling."

Bopanna has been playing as many tournaments as possible to garner more points. His strategy in the coming one year is to play the maximum number of events in different conditions around the globe which will help him gain the much-required international exposure that will prepare him for the hard and ruthless battles awaiting him and the country in the future.

He had come to the Delhi Futures after participating in Futures tourneys in Colombo (he reached the last sixteen in singles; won the doubles), Chennai (failed to make it past the second round in the singles; doubles runners-up).

"This year I shall be playing more tournaments than last year for sure because I want to get my ranking as high as possible," he said.

Bopanna has a tight schedule in the coming months. There's the Kuwait Futures this month; then he will proceed to play a Futures and a Challenger in Uzbekistan. He will also be playing Challengers in England and Futures in Egypt. But before that the busy lad from Karnataka has a tough assignment when he turns out for India in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I second round tie against New Zealand, to be held in Wellington from April 5 to 7.

This will be his second stint in the squad after his first outing against Lebanon in February.

He believes in following a step-by-step approach and has confidence in himself about achieving his goals. Prior to his selection for the Lebanon tie, he had told this scribe, "The only way I am going to get into the Davis Cup team is by improving my ranking." And he stayed by those words. The All-India Tennis Association impressed by his performances during the year, selected him for the Asia-Oceania Group I tie. The rubber, played between February 8-10, was swept by India, with some brilliant performances coming from the ever-dependable Leander Paes, his doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi and upcoming talent Harsh Mankad.

Although he did not get a chance to play a match in Beirut (the Lebanese capital), Bopanna has no qualms about it and says he had a good outing.

"Frankly speaking, I thought I would at least play on the third day after we won the tie," says Bopanna. So, was he disappointed when coach Ramesh Krishnan opted for Mankad to shoulder the responsibilities with Paes.

"I was not really disappointed that I was not in the main line-up because Harsh was already in the team and had played before; so I don't think Ramesh was trying to change the combination."

A confident Bopanna feels he was selected because of some consistently good performances last year.

"As I had performed pretty well in India and abroad I knew I had a really good chance of getting in the team. It wasn't a surprise."

So how did he react to the news about his selection?

"My immediate reaction ... jumped right up in the air."

Bopanna was in the right frame of mind on the eve of the Davis tie after having won his maiden doubles title in the Abu Dhabi Futures. Pairing with Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei, the combination eliminated the Slovakian duo of Tomas Janci and Roman Kukal 7-5, 7-5 in the final of $15 UAE F2 Futures. Although he couldn't pass the first round hurdle in the singles event, he did well to put up a brave fight against Filippo Messori - - the highest ranked unseeded (ITA 308) - in three sets 3-6, 7-5, 2-6.

Thought to be a slow learner on the circuit, the lanky player has scaled the graph steadily with the last season being a revelation. Bopanna had a ranking of 1156 with just three ATP points in his pocket at the start of the season. But belief in himself, helped by the support of his family and coach, have paid rich dividends.

Beginning the season on a good note, he made an impact in the National Grasscourt in Kolkata, making his maiden entry into the semi-finals. Although he lost a tight match, he came out a winner with a renewed confidence in himself. All this while he had a fluctuating graph - winning a few matches but come the big occasion, he lost way.

Then he hit a purple patch. In three ITF Futures in India last year, he made the final in the first two at Indore and Mumbai respectively and the semi-finals in the third one at Pune. However, his perseverance and encouragement from his coach have helped him boost his ranking to 501 after his victory in Delhi.

He thanks his parents and coach CGK Bhupathi for his progress.slow. "My parents have supported me all the way and right now Mr. Bhupathi has been the one to help bring this gradual transformation."

His former coach Nandan Bal says Bopanna's greatest asset is his positive attitude. "He doesn't hold back and likes to go for the shots. He has got the biggest serve in India and plays well on both sides of the court."

The former Davis Cupper believes Bopanna is a late bloomer. "I had told his parents when they brought him to me at the age of 15 that it's too late to start a career, but that doesn't mean that was the end of it. I also said that the more tourneys he will play, the more he will mature, which he is slowly doing."

Bal believes Bopanna's best years are ahead. "With the right kind of grooming he can do a lot."

One can say Bopanna has inherited his father's physique and sports is anyway part of his lineage. Both his parents played tennis at the club level. He knows the importance the physical training, one of the important demands of sport. His training regime stretches to around six hours in a day - two-and-a-half in the morning and a workout lasting the same duration in the evening; 45 minutes to an hour of physical training. He also does weights three times a week.

Normally, he keeps a cool head and takes his chances on the court. However, sometimes he gets ruffled by bad court calls. "I am not a temperamental player, but if you keep getting bad decisions, I presume most of the players lose their temper. Actually, I lost a match against Victor Bruthans in Mumbai after getting a bad call on match point. I was serving 5-4 in the third and lost 5-7."

Bopanna is mindful of his grey areas and feels the need to improve his volleys that would do a great deal to enhance his game by leaps and bounds. Being seen as one of the prospects of the future in Indian tennis along with Mankad and Sunil Kumar, Bopanna says it would be a great honour to step into the shoes of Paes and Bhupathi when the time comes.

"Harsh, Sunil and myself taking the baton from Leander and Mahesh, I think it will be a boon."

It will be a difficult to emulate the feats of the famed duo for the youngsters, as none of them have yet achieved a major success. But at the same time they can do very well by learning from their seniors, as they are, and, will now be, part of many a Davis team line-up.

Which means they will have to be a very good readers of the game, knowing the right strategies to employ in various situations. For that to happen the players will have to tour a lot to get the much required feel of playing on foreign lands and face stiff competition.

Sadly, Indians always have problems of sponsorship, travel and not choosing the right tournaments (which will introduce them to good opposition). Bopanna has been lucky as his parents have gone all the way to support him financially. His trips to Thailand and Australia were sponsored by his college Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College and Mr. Dinesh Reddy of the Nutrine Company. Recently another piece of good news came Bopanna's way when the AITA announced that they would be taking full responsibility for his training and tournaments and decided to support him completely for the next two years.

Finally, we come back to the forthcoming Davis Cup tie against the Kiwis and how the education learnt during his recent experience on the bench in the Lebanon will help him . Even though he was not part of the action on the court there have been a few important plus points which would play a major part in Bopanna's future. His maiden experience made him understand the importance of playing for his country; the pride and honour associated with it.

"It was a really pretty good experience because first of all you are there to represent your country and the team effort is something really great."

He also realised the importance of teamwork. "Like you have team-mates cheering for you and pumping you all the time. I think it's an awesome feeling."

So what did the team have to say to him?

"None of them really had anything to say to me, other than telling me to keep playing lot of tournaments."

Which is the need of the hour, as the more events he participates in the more he will be ready to compete when the hour of the reckoning beckons. With the 'Indian Express' of Paes and Bhupathi slowing down steadily, the likes of Bopanna, Mankad and Sunil Kumar will be the next hopes for a fame-starved country. Sooner or later the team think-tank will have to play these young turks in big situations and stop burdening the duo of Paes and Bhupathi. At least then we would come to know whether we are really looking at the future of Indian tennis or just living in an illusion.

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