Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

Post by PKBasu »

Thanks for those wonderful nuggets about the late TK Ramanathan, ss1, which are completely appropriate here. Indian tennis owes him a deep debt of gratitude. It really was remarkable how his relentless drive created two world-class tennis players in both his son (still the greatest tennis player India has produced) and his grandson (the third greatest tennis player India has produced). Lakshmi Mahadevan's story of the struggles of a woman tennis player in the 1960s certainly rings a bell, but it was remarkable that TKR coached both the men's and women's tennis champions of Asia for 1964. Of course, he also coached the only Indian to make the singles SF at Wimbledon and the French Open QF, and the second Indian to make two singles QFs at the US Open.
Both Krish and Ramesh were completely forthright about the man to whom they owed their tennis abilities: TKR. Both the discipline he instilled, and the tennis skills he imparted, were utterly priceless.
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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As Sania MIrza takes on Justin Henin at the Australian Open, many Indian tennis fans' thoughts will return to one of the earliest upsets pulled off by an Indian at a Slam, when 19-year-old Ramanathan Krishnan beat the 1954 champion, Jaroslav Drobny, in the singles R1 in 1956. This is how it was reported by TIME magazine:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html

Of course, the biggest upset ever pulled by an Indian at a Slam was Ramesh Krishnan's victory over world #1 (and reigning Australian, French and US Open champion) Mats Wilander at the 1988 Australian Open (in R2).
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

Post by Varma »

PKBasu wrote:...Of course, the biggest upset ever pulled by an Indian at a Slam was Ramesh Krishnan's victory over world #1 (and reigning Australian, French and US Open champion) Mats Wilander at the 1988 Australian Open (in R2).
As always, thanks for being such a wonderful raconteur, PKB!

Just a minor correction in the year, though. Ramesh's win over Wilander came at the 1989 Australian Open.

- Varma
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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We are a bit :Offtopic:

But this is the second or third time I have got that wrong here! Ramesh did beat Wilander in January 1989 at the AO when Wilander was the top-seed and world #1. And he won in straight sets 62 63 76, but sadly lost in R3 to another former Wimbledon junior singles champion, Leonardo Lavalle of Mexico.
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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What is now called the SAP Open in San Jose (ongoing this week) is the second-oldest tournament in the US (after the Open, which began in 1881). This tournament, called the Pacific Coast Championships before the Open era, began in 1889. And sure enough, Ramanathan Krishnan made the singles final of the Pacific Coast championships in 1959, losing the final in four sets to Barry McKay (who had made the SF at Wimbledon that year, losing a close 5-setter to Laver, and had been the lead singles player on the US team that won the Davis Cup the previous year).
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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A happier Davis Cup story from 1959, as reported by Sports Illustrated:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

A few weeks after that tournament final in San Jose, the "brilliant young" Ramanathan Krishnan beat that year's Wimbledon singles finalist Rod Laver in the Davis Cup (and "sent a chill down Australian spines"...).
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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Krish was no longer young (already 30) by the time he took India to the Challenge Round (final) of the Davis Cup in December 1966. Sports Illustrated had this to say about how India were crushed by the then-invincible Aussies:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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Here are the Wikipedia entries for the Wimbledon men's singles in 1960, when Krish played three tough 5-setters in the early rounds (including beating Gimeno in R2) before beating 4th seeded Ayala (of Chile) in straight sets in the QF and then succumbing in straights to Neale Fraser (eventual champion that year, and USO and Wimbledon holder) in the SF:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Wimbl ... 7s_Singles

And this is the one for 1961, when Krish had an easier passage through the early rounds, picking up scalps like Marty Riessen and Tony Palafox (future coach of John McEnroe) before taking out Roy Emerson (that year's 4th seed) in straight sets in the QF. Then, he ran into the juggernaut of Rod Laver in his prime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Wimbl ... 's_Singles

The nicest aspect of this draw is that there are FIVE Indians in the men's singles -- including Akhtar Ali, Jaidip Mukherjea, Premjit Lall and Naresh Kumar (although only Lall managed to win a round that year) apart from Krish.
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

Post by RohitG »

@PKBasu, after reading all this, I thank you for sharing this info. I really felt proud to be an Indian after reading the Krishnan family's exploits in the tennis world. Salute!
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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It seems that Krish only played the US championships (precursor to the US Open) twice, in 1957 and 1959, and made the singles third round on both occasions. He was seeded fifth in 1959 (after winning the US Hardcourt Championships that year), but was upset by the 1954 champion (and 1953 Wimbledon singles champ) Seixas in R3. The US championship (later Open) was played on grass at Forest Hills until 1974. (Only the French was played on clay, the other three on grass). It was a pity that Krish didn't play the US championships in his prime (1960-62).
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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Krish was seeded fourth in singles at Wimbledon in 1962 (after making the SF the previous two years) but had to retire with an ankle injury in the third round (against Neale Fraser). In 1963, Krish made the Wimbledon PQF (R4), but lost to the top-seeded Emerson (who he had beaten in the 1961 QF). He didn't play Wimbledon in 1964, but returned to make R3 in 1965 (a year in which Premjit Lall also made R3).
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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The Wimbledon archives have Ramanathan Krishnan's career file as follows:

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/d ... index.html

So, 2 singles semifinals, 2 PQFs and 6 times in R3. In doubles, six journeys to the QF. And in MxD, once to the fourth round.
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

Post by rajitghosh »

I went through various sources like tennis archives, tennis forums and steve tennis as well as it.wikipedia.org and could piece together most of the tennis tournaments where our players were champions or runners-up. These are good sources for tournaments before the ATP started. Here is a list of tournaments won by Ramanathan Krishnan and who he beat in the final. Only in 2-3 cases, I could not find the complete information. I have similar information for Jaidip Mukerjea, Premjit Lall, Naresh Kumar, Sumant Misra, Dilip Bose, Anand Amritraj, Mohd. Sleem, Ghaus Mohammed, SM Jacob and the Fyzee brothers. This is only a list where he was champion. I have a list where he was runner-up and also a list of some doubles tournaments won by him. The list contains some truly big tournaments like River Oaks, The Canadian Open in the open era, US Hard Court, Queen's, Manchester Open, Bristol Open, Dutch Open, St. Petersburg Masters, Belgian Open etc. Of course, he won the Indian Nationals 8 times and the Asian Championship 4 times. In those days, the Indian winter circuit comprising of the Nationals, the Hard Court, The Northern India Championship, The Western India Championship, the Central India Championship etc. used to attract a lot of top notch foreign players so some of the wins in the Indian tournaments would be equivalent to winning ATP 500 or 250 tournaments today. In some tournaments he beat some really strong players on the way, for e.g. in the Manchester Open quarters, he beat Laver.

1953 indian national, calcutta arkinstall
1954 durham mottram
1955 bombay arkinstall
1955 madras arkinstall
1955 durham mottram
1955 delhi skonecki
1956 ceylon
1956 bombay arkinstall
1956 india national, calcutta kumar
1957 punjab knight
1957 delhi arkinstall
1957 delhi knight
1957 frinton frankland
1958 madras schmidt
1958 dubrovnik halliet
1958 manchester kumar
1958 indore knight
1958 aix le bains rodriguez
1958 bombay knight
1958 indian national, calcutta kumar
1958 bad neunahr fernandes
1959 india national, madras merlo
1959 bristol drobny
1959 denver reed
1959 queen's fraser
1959 allahabad lall
1959 Asian mackay
1959 trivandrum merlo
1959 hoylake lall
1960 madras schmidt
1960 bombay woodcock
1960 india national, delhi schmidt
1960 allahabad woodcock
1961 karachi jacques
1961 wiesbaden stuck
1961 dusseldorf moore
1961 Hilversum Mulligan
1961 oostend hewitt
1961 le zoute fletcher
1962 bangalore knight
1962 indore knight
1962 bombay knight
1962 madras fraser (shared)
1962 indian national
1962 asian mukerjea
1963 antwerp piatrangeli
1963 deauville darmon
1963 asian mukerjea
1964 indian national, calcutta mills
1964 delhi
1964 asian hewitt
1965 indian national, delhi mulligan
1965 allahabad mulligan
1965 st.petersburg belkin
1965 river oaks richey
1965 le touquet
1965 hyderabad mukerjea
1967 antwerp Emerson
1968 canada ulrich
1972 singapore Cruz
1972 madras Mukerjea
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

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Krish's name among past winners of some of the tournaments he won:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Open_(tennis) Canadian Open (now Roger's Cup), 1968 champ, 1957 runner-up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s ... mpionships Queen's, champion 1959
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Open Bristol, champion 1959, runner-up 1958

Others, like Manchester, were more important then than they are now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Open Krish won 1958, having lost the final to Lew Hoad the previous year.
So, for instance, the Pacific Coast Championship, where Krish was runner-up in 1959: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_C ... mpionships
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Re: Ramanathan Krishnan Thread

Post by rajitghosh »

http://www.tennisarchives.com/player.php?playerid=1926

Check this link. It covers 90% of his career. Only a few tournaments are missed out.
His biggest wins were:
1965- River Oaks, St. Petersburg, Florida
1959- Queen's, Bristol, US Hard Court
1958- Manchester, Yugoslavia
1968, Stuttgart, Canadian Open
1961- Dutch Open, Wiesbaden, Dusseldorf, Knocke Le Zoute, Oostende
1963, 1967- Belgian Open

He beat players of the calibre of Laver, Emerson, Fraser, Pietrangeli, Drobny etc. multiple times.
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