ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[Prashant]

Sam Querrey, US Open finalist. Try that on for size.

[prasen9]

Bizarre.

[VReddy]

Meanwhile TNTA favorite Rublev makes it to the Quarters as a 19-yr old! I see the other TNTA favorite Karen Khachanov is ranked in the top-30 now as a 21 year old. We give lot of flak to Chennai Open folks but their choice of non-India WCs appears to be damn good when we consider these two folks are going to be around for the next 10 years in the top 20!

Similar case with the Vijay Amritraj run CTL India - we had talents like Flavia Pennetta, Elena Svitlona, Garbine Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska, etc,. play in front of empty crowds in India. All those players have gone on to either win a Grand Slam or been in the top-5 which is huge.

I wish they do a bit more to highlight these players when they play in India. During my 1-2 yrs watching WTA Hyderabad Open back in 2004/05 - I had a similar exposure to top upcoming talents like Shahar Peer (Jr Aus Open champ), Maria Kirilenko (Jr US Open champ), Marion Bartoli, etc,. and the realization that I was getting exposure to see future top-20 players for free made it all the more enticing to follow the game beyond Indian interest. WTA Hyd was all about Sania or mostly empty stadia (+few perverts ofcourse!) back then

[prasen9]

And a long time ago, there used to be this Nehru Cup. We saw Burruchaga, etc. play for Uruguay in 1984. I think Burruchaga was already the top scorer in the Copa America or something the year before (1983?). Then, these folks played in the World Cup! I used to keep a diary of the lineups of these teams and how long they played in each match. And, then when later they became stars, I would go back and check whom I had seen play!

[PKBasu]

Sam Querrey, US Open finalist. Try that on for size.

Certainly better than "Pablo Carreno-Busta, US Open finalist" -- still very much a live possibility.
Glad to see a guy who is more than an inch shorter than me in the US Open quarterfinal (Diego is merely 170cm tall!).

[PKBasu]

And a long time ago, there used to be this Nehru Cup. We saw Burruchaga, etc. play for Uruguay in 1984. I think Burruchaga was already the top scorer in the Copa America or something the year before (1983?). Then, these folks played in the World Cup! I used to keep a diary of the lineups of these teams and how long they played in each match. And, then when later they became stars, I would go back and check whom I had seen play!

Burruchaga played for Argentina, and you are thinking about the 1984 Nehru Cup.
In 1982, the star for Uruguay was Enzo Francescoli. I watched several of those matches (including the final, I think, which Uruguay won). It was quite bizarre to see football being played on the Eden Gardens turf.

[prasen9]

You are of course right (as always wrt remembering things, I wish I had your memory ). My memory is not my strongest point. Sorry, yes, I got them mixed up. Burruchaga played in the World Cup. I do not remember if Franciscoli played though I think he had a long Uruguay national team career. I think there were 3-4 other players who graduated to play well in their national teams; usually they played in the Nehru Cup when they were still up and coming. Too bad we do not have such tournaments in India anymore

[Atithee]

I remember several Iranians (a Jamshed Nasiri comes to mind and there was someone named Habib, who might be a local) used to play in those days. Not sure if they were the best. I think we played some Russian clubs too (Cosmos or Dynamos?).

[Varma]

I am not as exposed to Football leagues as you guys from Bengal, but I remember this guy, Chima Okorie, a Nigerian who came to Vizag as a student. Eventually he played for all big teams in Bengal, I think. Even though I am not from Vizag, I used to read a lot in the regional news about his exploits in the local clubs and College teams in Vizag. Later in my college days I had several friends from Vizag, who used to tell me firsthand stories of how crazy the whole town (well, at least most youngsters and Football fans) were about this guy. Not sure how high he played eventually in his career. It was fun following all that news as a kid!

- Varma

[Atithee]

Here you go Varma. From Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chima_Okorie

Chima Ephraim Okorie (born 8 October 1968 in Izomber, Abia State) is a Nigerian former professional football striker who was renowned for his goalscoring prowess in the Indian leagues.

[prasen9]

Chima Okerie was sort-of our contemporary. He was one of the top strikers, possibly the best in the pre-Barretto days and possibly the best foreign striker before Barretto. Jamshid Nasiri was from Iran and also a midfielder/striker but not as good as Chima. He possibly played for the Iranian junior team. There was also Emeka Ezeugo, who got started in the Calcutta clubs. Then, he went on to play for the Nigerian team in the Olympics and the World Cup. Chima played for some smaller clubs in England too and Emeka played professionally in five continents!

Maybe a moderator should kindly move these to the Football thread?

[sameerph]

Coming back to US open tennis, Del Potro came back from 2 sets down to down Thiem. He is now clearly the third favorite among those left behind Roger and Nadal.

[PKBasu]

Federer is the only one who has actually played a proper Slam-like draw, with DelPotro as his next opponent. Nadal has had it relatively easy: Dolgopolov will soon be banned for match-fixing, and is a light-weight for the last-16 stage of a Slam. The other half of the draw is an absolute joke. Querrey, though, has had something of a breakout year this year.

[PKBasu]

Varma, Mohammed Habib was a local -- actually from Hyderabad -- but one of the legends of Calcutta football in the 1965-75 period. He had a brother called Mohammed Akbar, and they usually played for the same club. Habib played mostly for Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, winning many trophies and league titles along the way. The one time he didn't win anything was when he joined Mohammedan Sporting club in the 1970s for a year or two.
There used to be at least one or two overseas teams in the IFA Shield every year, and Shakthar Donetsk (Soviet champions that year) participated early in the 1980s, as did Pakhtakhor (from Uzbekistan, although then part of the USSR) a few years later. I do think one of the Dynamo teams also played one year. Teams from Iran, Bangladesh, even North Korea turned up on occasion.

[S_K_S]

As the tournament gets into the serious stage I have to blame Murray for ruining it for us fans. If he had withdrawn before the draw we would have had a Fed vs Nadal final and a more evenly balanced draw rather than the lopsided one we are seeing.