2017 Chennai Open

[Varma]

R.I.P. Indian Singles

In PKB's dictionary R.I.P. in this context is...Rise Imitating a Phoenix!

On a serious note, I am still hopeful.

- Varma

[sameerph]

Great start in 2017 for the doubles campaign
A first where two finalist in an ATP were Indian teams
Also a first if I am correct with 5 Indian's in top 100 of Doubles rankings don't remember this happening before,

Not the first time. In 2013 too we had 5 Indians in top 100 - Leander,Mahesh,Rohan, Divij and Purav.

[prasen9]

Instead of trying to find excuses to give Lee a chance in the DC, AITA could as well have called RB and told him that they are giving LP one last match to retire before Mahesh takes over. That would have avoided the ugliness of the feud in the media. The upside of this is that Rohan played like he had something to prove. And, he proved that he is the best doubles player in India now. I hope he and Saketh (or Yuki?) can combine well, win quite a few DC matches for us and help us move into the WG.

[Rajiv]

Great start in 2017 for the doubles campaign
A first where two finalist in an ATP were Indian teams
Also a first if I am correct with 5 Indian's in top 100 of Doubles rankings don't remember this happening before,

Not the first time. In 2013 too we had 5 Indians in top 100 - Leander,Mahesh,Rohan, Divij and Purav.

Thanks Sameer for the clarification

[sameerph]

The report of doubles final from ATP site states as under -

It was the first all-Indian final at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in 22 years.

That means there was an all Indian final somewhere around 1995. Need to dig out which one was that.

[vatsal323]

The report of doubles final from ATP site states as under -

It was the first all-Indian final at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in 22 years.

That means there was an all Indian final somewhere around 1995. Need to dig out which one was that.

It meant at the Chennai Open. And Chennai Open started in 1995 only I guess.

[sameerph]

Ok, thanks, Vatsal. It says in the ATP world tour 250 tournament and not an ATP world tour tournament. So, I think you are right.

[jayakris]

The report of doubles final from ATP site states as under -

It was the first all-Indian final at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in 22 years.

That means there was an all Indian final somewhere around 1995. Need to dig out which one was that.

It meant at the Chennai Open. And Chennai Open started in 1995 only I guess.

I believe the first Chennai Open was in 1996 (which would make the current one the 22nd edition at Chennai). We had the event in Delhi the previous year though (1995).

[PKBasu]

The New Delhi edition was actually in 1996. This is still the 22nd edition, if we start with that one...

[jaydeep]

Here r Zeeshan Ali's views on our players performance at Chennai open.

Yuki Bhambri has potential to be in world top-50

I had not expected Ramkumar to lose 1-6, 1-6 to Yuki since we know Ram has played some of his best tennis in the past in front of his home crowd in Chennai. Yuki played smart, had a game plan and stuck to it.

He put a lot of pressure on Ram and came to the net eight to 10 times in the first three games of the match itself. That set the tone for his approach to this match. He was going to attack at every opportunity and try to keep the points short. He executed his game plan very well.

This could be a very important year for Yuki. It's a great way to start 2017. In the next six months or so, we should see him jump in the rankings. If he can get into bigger tournaments by using his protected ranking and do well, we will see him earn more ATP points which in turn will improve his rankings.

An important quality of a top-class player is that he has a Plan 'B'. It was a surprise to me to see that Ramkumar did not attempt anything different when the first set got over in less than 20 minutes.

Coming to the net or playing more aggressively rather than staying 20 feet behind the baseline might have given Ram a chance to get into the match. He was very defensive from the first point itself.

There might have been some pressure playing against another Indian but that could also have been approached in a positive manner. He had a lot to prove going into this match and to me it looked like the pressure might have taken its toll.

Playing this sort of defensive tennis is definitely not going to help him move forward. He needs to sit back and analyse where he went wrong.
We have seen Ram play some really good tennis matches. He is a fighter and has the potential to do much better than what he has been doing in the last few years.

Ram has been training in Europe for the last couple of years with help from TNTA. Ram needs to start playing and performing in bigger tournaments. He can be in top-150 for sure. He has got the right physique and great support which is really important.

Saketh Myneni played a good first set and had a couple of opportunities against Mikhail Youzhny but if you don't capitalise on chances against top players, the match is going to slip away very quickly.

Saketh had a good 2016. We saw him getting to a career-high ranking of 137 in singles. The US Open in September was a good tournament for him. The important thing this year is for Saketh to stay injury free.

Towards the end of last year he had some issues with his shoulder. We have to wait and see how that holds out. As a player gets older, injuries take longer to heal.

Saketh has a huge serve and one of the nicest backhands on the Tour. He needs to work a lot on his fitness as that has always been a big question mark for him. If Saketh is able to stay in good shape and injury free, this could be a crucial year for him.

[arjun2761]

Agree that Yuki has top 50 potential. His current game is close to top 100 and he needs to improve further this year to realize his potential in addition to staying fit.

[vatsal323]

I don't think his game is top 100 at the moment. A 6-3 6-1 win over a 110th ranked clay-courter doesn't mean his game is top 100. I still feel he needs more power in his 1st serve to be called top 100 level!

What I mean is he might reach there with his current serve, but will find it really tough to beat quality opposition to stay there for a long time!

[arjun2761]

I have a different definition of top-100 than you do - Vatsal. A top 100 player in my definition (typically ranked in the 90s) will generally lose to most folks in the top 100 but will win most matches against those ranked in the 100-200. They typically maintain their ranking by playing a mixture of ATP events (where they mostly lose in the early rounds) and challengers (where they do very well). Yuki certainly met this definition of a top-100 player and appropriately reached a ranking of 88 in 2015.

His Chennai results were consistent with this level of play (where he beat 3 players in the 100-200+ range and lost to a top 50 player) although the Australian Open qualies and a few more challengers would likely provide better confirmation. Agree that he needs a more potent serve to win more consistently against top 100 opponents but that would indicate that he has graduated to a top 75 or top 50 level of play which he hasn't so far in his career.

[PKBasu]

Agree 100% with that, Arjun!

[PKBasu]

Those who were writing off Leander were a bit premature:

At $508 Auckland Classic 2017, New Zealand

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Andre Sa (BRA) d. 1-Treat Huey (PHI)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 76(3) 63