2009 U.S. Open

[prasen9]

(1998) was the last time a man and a woman were in the main draw -- at the Australian Open where Nirupama Sanjeev had the Asian wildcard, and LP was in the main draw too .. But Niru had a WC. You can say that it is the first time in the Open era that Indians EARNED their way into the men's and women's draws. Jay

I know I am splitting hairs, but, Niru's WC was based on being the top Asian ranked female player not in the main draw (or something like that). That was earned too, in a different way.

On another note, Rediff has a news item on their first page noting that Somdev qualified to the USO. So, Rediff is celebrating/reporting on their first page an achievement roughly equal to being #128 in the world - quite a low bar, I would say. Rediff is biased towards cricket, no doubt, but I think among the other sports tennis gets better treatment. And if our sportsmen improve and achieve, the media will come around. Of course, I understand this is a chicken and egg problem. I hope they start covering our volleyball team soon, which has been more deserving of a front-pager, imho, than Somdev qualifying. Not that I mind this coverage instead of some stupid gossip about some Bollywood personality, but nobody gets that excited about some 25-year old winning some lowly future except for diehards in this forum.

[sameerph]

Great to see an Indian man finally in the main draw of a grand slam. Kodus to Somdev.

Somdev is the only Asian to enter main draw from among qualifiers. However, main draw already has 3 more Asian - Taiwan's Lu, Uzkekistan's Istomin & Kakkhstan's Goulebov. Somdev is surely inching his way to be the best Asian player .

Hopefullly , from next grand slam Somdev will have good enough ranking to make the main draw directly. .

His first round opponent is tough & in form but I am sure Somi will give his best.

Go Somi.

[10nnix]

Congrats Somi. Unlike his initial year on the tour, Luck seems to be on his side this time. Lady luck smiled first in shape of reshuffle of Qualifying draw and now he has a relatively favorable draw for the first two/three rounds compared to other Qualifiers who are facing likes of Davidenko in first or second round.

Go Somi! you deserved a break and here is your chance to make the most of it and prove that you belong to big boys group on the tour !

[suresh]

First/Second/Third/.... whatever. I am just thrilled to seem Somdev make the US Open main draw.

[jaydeep]

Goood to see Somi finished match in same game to scored comfortable win to qualify ... Match against similar style player Frederico Gil would be interesting to follow ... Hopefully Somi will win it.

[jayakris]

PKB, I deleted the two posts above caused by my misreading your posts about seeing an Indian man and a woman in the USO main draw .. I normally expect you to know stuff like that (like, in your sleep!) but misread the posts and thought that perhaps age was beginning to creep up on you pretty early ... Ha! .. I now realize that the said problem is more with me than you .. Jay

[vidhyashankar]

Congrats Somdev!!!

I am delighted to see Indian representation in both Singles Main Draws...Good luck to both..

[Insider]

Due to an injury withdrawal, Rajeev Ram made it into the main draw as an alternate (without having to use the wildcard he had been awarded). Congratulations to Ram for being the first Indian to directly merit a GS main draw appearance since LP in the late nineties.

[PKBasu]

Somdev has definitely got as good a draw as a qualifier could possibly hope to get. To be playing someone outside the top-100 in R1 of a Slam main draw is definitely a bit of a break, even if that player happens to be in good form at present. Go Buji, take full advantage of the opportunity now that it has come your way!

[prasen9]

Ram for being the first Indian to directly merit a GS main draw appearance since LP in the late nineties.

Ram is an American.

[Insider]

Ram for being the first Indian to directly merit a GS main draw appearance since LP in the late nineties.

Ram is an American.

And also an Indian. He is an American Indian

[prasen9]

Ram for being the first Indian to directly merit a GS main draw appearance since LP in the late nineties.

Ram is an American.

And also an Indian. He is an American Indian

Not really. He does not have any official ties to India afaik. He is an Indian American, i.e., an American of Indian origin. So, saying that Ram is the first Indian to directly merit a GS ... etc. is plain wrong when the only links are that his ancestors were Indian.

[jayakris]

Yeah, insider, when did ajeev Ram become Indian? I see no (IND) against his name. He is a nice American dude with parents who are/were Indians. We wish him well and follow him, but he does not enter the GS stats for Indians in any shape or form ... And, of course, he is not an American Indian .. He is an Indian-American .. I guess you can call him an American "Indianan" (as he is from Indiana)

But, I tell you, his legs look Indian like nobody's business, man! -- Not even many Indians have such Indian-looking legs these days!

Jay

[cricketics]

Great to see so many people replying in this after seeing our Indian doing some great things for us.

JAI HIND

[Saniapower]

I cant understand why Rajeev cant play under Indian color? He has achieved everything what he could have playing as an american(winning Newport). So if now India offers him a Davis cup chance then he might think twice! If Shikha, Sunitha,Prakash they can switch it then whats wrong with Rajeev? I have seen the amount of home support which he gets in Chennai. actually i feel very proud when Ram does well. I feel Somdev has been inspired by Rajeev's brilliance in Newport.