This is a forum where users can follow various tournaments that have Indian participation or are held in India. GrandSlams and Davis Cup should also be discussed here.
PKBasu wrote:Federer played junior tennis (and won the Wimbledon junior tennis), Nadal was specifically kept away from junior tournaments. Both models have their pluses and minuses.
True. However, Federer was playing tennis, soccer & squash competitively till he was 12. Then he decided to focus on just tennis. So he started taking the sport more seriously around the age of 13.
Jay has made this point above - I am very reluctant to use either Federer or Nadal as an example. These guys are generational prodigies. We need to look at all the top 100-150 and see the path followed, and there I would say probably 90% played the junior tournaments.
I have been meaning to write on this topic for a while and this might be a good time although not the right thread. I feel that in India, in order to make progress to senior level as a professional, it is critical that you excel at junior level, that you are far from everyone by a large distance (as Jay has also mentioned). So, when I hear about Indian juniors' success in any field, sports for sure, I really don't give much credence to that because in most developed countries, by and large, the juniors do play for fun, learn the basics, and not necessarily to get that competitive edge. It is there but it's not as critical as it is in India, so it's no surprise that Indian juniors seem to do well compared to the other counterparts in the world. However, when these juniors start their senior career, they have to compete with their counterparts in the world who are really really good and are focused on the game. They know the game in and out and, therefore, play the game much better than an Indian junior ever needed hitherto even at the world level. Of course, there are exceptions like Sania in the same way as Federer, Nadal, AB DeVilliers, etc., who are "generational" players as said by Prashant. But, it's a rarity in India where you always have to hedge your bets and develop an academic side at the expense of 10,000 hours of devotional sports practice, which is the minimum needed to be just "top" class and not necessarily sufficient to be "world" class.
Fabulous win for DiPu in the semifinal. A measure of revenge against Molteni too! Actually it's the second consecutive victory over him (following St Petersburg where DiPu then lost to Paes) after one loss at a Mexico Challenger last April.
Atithee wrote:I have been meaning to write on this topic for a while and this might be a good time although not the right thread. I feel that in India, in order to make progress to senior level as a professional, it is critical that you excel at junior level, that you are far from everyone by a large distance (as Jay has also mentioned)......
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Well said. One thing I would add is the need for these juniors to cross-train in other sports like soccer for example (cricket even). I don't see a lot of that happening.
Need to dig out that info. But, probably in the older times of Sr. Krishnan we might have had 2 doubles pairs in an ATP final as we had so many good players back then.
Wonderful to have an all-Indian final.
I had predicted at the start of the tournament that whoever won the DiPu vs PaeSa match would win the title. Now that it's an all-Indian final, it is anyone's match. May the better pair win!!
Yes, I think this is the first-ever ATP tour event in which there is an all-Indian doubles final.
The closest I can remember was the doubles SF at Calcutta in the 1975 Indian Open, in which Vijay and Anand Amritraj beat Sashi Menon and his American partner (Jim Delaney). And the doubles SF in New Delhi in 1973 in which the Amritraj brothers beat Ramanathan Krishnan and Jeff Borowiak. The 1978 semifinal in Calcutta had Sashi Menon/Sherwood Stewart (the eventual champions) beating Anand and Ashok Amritraj.
2006 Mumbai: Mahesh partnering Mario Ancic beat Rohan and Mustafa Ghouse in the final.
2012 Shanghai: Lee and Radek beat Mahesh and Rohan.
These are finals.
rajitghosh wrote:2006 Mumbai: Mahesh partnering Mario Ancic beat Rohan and Mustafa Ghouse in the final.
2012 Shanghai: Lee and Radek beat Mahesh and Rohan.
These are finals.
Thanks for that, rajitghosh! The Shanghai final is probably the biggest tournament in the Open era with a near all-Indian doubles final (3-quarters Indian).
The singles final is underway. 20 year old Daniil Medvedev looks like another of the emerging stars on the ATP tour. Can he truly become one by beating 2nd seeded Bautista-Agut?
The all-Indian doubles final is scheduled to start 90 minutes from now.
