US Open 2004

[jayakris]

Oh yeah, there you go -- the biggest win by an Indain-born woman in the open era was not going to happen without the biggest Indian tennis fan (that would be, um, mua) cheering in the stands .. Of course with the great gurvinder virender harinder virender harvinder gill also ... Mahesh Uberoi died a few deaths in the stands during the match .. Neha was pumped too. Coach Ric Macci was also there with us, as was Mahesh Bhupathi (of course his Globosport has had the Uberoi sisters with them for a while, somewhat informally -- I will hold back the details of other future possibilities for now, as everything is fluid about how things will go with the sisters).... Anyway, we had a loud cheering squad .. I mean REALLY loud, because Shikha is like Leander - she really responds to the crowd in a visible manner ....

The match was fantastic. Shikha has one of the most powerful serves out there - and I am not talking about Indian standards and all that. She can hit a 120 mph. There was no speed gun there but I am pretty sure she is in that range. Tremendous power, and as I said before, she probably plays one of the most complete all court game out there. Looking to go up the net as often as it makes sense, but she won so many long rallies as well. I counted at least 7 or 8 that went over 16 shots and she probably won all but one from the baseline. If she can rally that accurately from behind and can mix up her natural strong urge to move up also, she is a serious handful for anybody. It was really no surprise at all that she qualified in (and after having seen just a set of her Q3 match I had said earlier that she might beat Obata)

Well, what can I say - I have not been this impressed with somebody's game in a long time, on the women's side .. I am talking *anybody* - not just Indians. If she can keep this up, sky is the limit.

By the way, she can quite possibly beat Venus if she goes and plays her best. She has the game to beat VW by forcing Venus into mistakes with an all courts charge - whether she will do that, I don't know.

Shikha showed tremendous heart and spunk in coming back from looking really down in the first couple of service games in the 3rd set - down two breaks at 0-3 in the 3rd! .. Saori had served quite a few first serves well at that point (not a strong server or anything but when she hits the first serve, Saori seemed to have a bit more variety in her game). Shikha knew that she had to take the fight to the Japanese and get her to again start commiting mistakes by going for the lower percentage winners. That meant Shikha had to make her fight for every point - and that is exactly what she did. She simply started playing well, egged on by an unrelenting cheering squad that would not let her think of losing. By the way, today the crowd did play a big part in her comeback, and the reason why the whole crowd there - not just us loud Indians - were on her side and screaming was that she clearly showed she appreciated it. Pumping the fists looking up into the stands and all that. She went after Obata and won 7 of the last 9 games to finish it (3 breaks in the final 5 service games from the world #58, if you can believe it) ..

The final game showed why Shikha is where she is. She rallied on every point and all 4 of her points came from rallies over 15 shots (two of them over 25) - and she won all four! ... Bloody accurate there.

I am really happy to have been there to see the win. If all goes well, this could be the beginning of something BIG. Really BIG.

By the way, as far as I know, the Niru win over #66 Pizziccini is the biggest win by an Indian in the open era before this. Am I missing any other wins?

Jay

[jaydeep]

superb description of super match by jay .. thanks i felt that i was there and enjoying thi all atmosphere ... and when u r complementing her for her game and future, then i think she is really big contender for bigger achievements ... what i follwed about both oberai sisters, from that i was under impression that neha is having more full court game and powerful serve than shikha ... but 120 mph serve is awesome and u also mentioned long rallies which lasted more than 25 shots means good baseline game also ... we all hope that she should play her natural game without thinking her opponent ... i know its very easy to say but very difficult to follow ... wishing her best luck and waiting to see another incredible match tomorrow (mostly in night session).

jaydeep.

[PKBasu]

Man, the greatest day in the history of Indian women's tennis, and there were FIVE members of this forum there to witness and report on it. Thanks a million for the great reports, Jay and gvhvhg. How deliciously wonderful can life be? And thanks, Neil, for that poignant story about how the Uberoi sisters met Venus -- which had my eyes brimming with tears of affecting joy. I think it's going to be tough for Shikha to play her idol and friend in the second round.
Gurinder, isn't it time you revealed your identity? (unfortunately you can't be Arindam Datta anymore, as that guy was in Pakistan playing in the Satellites this week). Perhaps we need to ask the Uberois...wonderful story about Neha recognising you as the guy with the Sharapova icon!
There is little doubt that Shikha's win is the biggest thing in Indian women's tennis in the Open era. I don't know much about our women in the pre-Open (i.e., pre-1968) era, but certainly this is only the second time that an India-born player has made the second round of a Slam in the Open era. (Rita Davar made the junior Wimbledon final, but I don't know if she continued playing internationally beyond the junior level).
That Shikha did it without a main-draw wild-card makes it an even bigger achievement.

[PKBasu]

It took a few hours, but eventually someone in the Indian press noticed Shikha's terrific achievement:
http://in.rediff.com/sports/2004/sep/01open2.htm

Notice the reference to the "Tennis legend" who was "speaking on the occasion".

[gvhvhg]

PKB u never know...i may be Arindam Datta as i did just fly back from the subcontinent

Im looking forward to seeing Shikha and Neha's doubles match and if the venus match is the night session tomorrow then i am buying a night session ticket

[jayakris]

... Good to see Hesh saying all that in definite terms. From what I can imagine, USTA will now throw the kitchen sink at her, and I was reluctant to say definite things about Shikha and Neha being there for India. Mahesh and the girls are Indian in their minds (but they grew up here and they should be expected to also be happy if the opportunities present themselves better in the US) .. The key would be for everybody to do nothing to turn the good feelings of the girls towards India to the wrong direction - and you know that Indians are perfectly capable of that .. Not that there is indication of that [except myself, who is known to have expressed some mild reservations about Shikha earlier, purely based on the results - though that is all much earlier] ..

Hope all works well and Globosport and India will take over the girls sometime soon. Right now I am sure Mahesh Uberoi and the sisters are a bit too thrilled to think clearly about anything!

Jay

[jayakris]

No Gurvinder is not Arindam Dutta. He is too young to be Arindam .. He refuses to tell me and everybody else his name though! .. It was funny that neha remembered him as the guy with the Sharapova signature .. Gurvinder had his priorities right though - he kept talking about his (future) wife playing on the Ashe court at the same time as Shikha's match, but he still stayed and cheered SU ....

For Florian: Sorry man, that I got stuck all over the place driving in (one hour trying to find the media parking lot, etc) .. Finally I came to the fanclub meeting place only at 1.45 pm .... I saw you from the other side during the Mahesh match though (Indian flag and all!) .. Quickly ran to see if SU's match was starting and then gvhvhg told me that you had to leave then. OK, we will meet at 1 pm again today (wednesday) near the bakery at the big food court - hope to see Gautam Belday also today.

Jay

[jayakris]

Oh shoot... Looks like I will be late today at the US Open .. I have to stay in my room and do some work (hey, I do have a job!) ..

Florian, gvhvhg, Gautam etc: Let us meet at 4 pm at the bakery -- Or if the sisters' match is on by then, let us meet right after that... Sorry about it. Damn, I forgot to get gurvinder's cell number ..

Jay

[gbelday]

Hey Jay,

Sorry missed you last night. I had to leave right after Hesh's doubles win. My wife called and said that my 2yr old son(Karan) was running high temperature..so basically I rushed home right after that and missed Shikha's great win! I guess you were busy at 1pm yesterday when we were all standing by the bakery.. I did meet Florian, Nirmal and Gurvinder(?)...

Not sure if I can make it today...son still a bit down and I am working from home...

[jayakris]

Gautam - sorry we couldn't meet. Hope your son gets better fast and you could come down tomorrow (I leave Friday morning...). Could you do me a favor if you have Florian's, Nirmal's or gvhvhg's cell number and let them know that I would again be late there till 4 pm and can't meet at 1 pm? Thanks ...

Go Uberois!

Jay

[jayakris]

By the way, I saw a set of Rajeev Ram's mtch yesterday. Was hoping to see some improvement in his game. Every time I see him, he seems to grow thinner. Come on Rajeev, you need to get a little bit more weight on that body to play the style of game you play...

Was a bit disappointed that he continues to rely completely on that backhand slice. Did not see a single top spin shot on the backhan side. It is amazing for me that he wins as much as he does, actually. He needs to really add a powerful backhand shot. I don't know, I keep waiting .... Sampras won with this style, and Rajeev may just need to turn into Sampras in strength and accuracy. Who knows, he might! .. He is very talented.

Jay

[gbelday]

Don't have gvhvhg's or Florian's numbers but I do have nirmal's work number (edited out). I hope he doesn't mind me posting it here..

OK, got it. Thanks. will edit it out for now .. If any of the fanclubbers need it today, PM me above -- Jay

[gbelday]

For Florian: Sorry man, that I got stuck all over the place driving in (one hour trying to find the media parking lot, etc) .. Finally I came to the fanclub meeting place only at 1.45 pm

Damn... I was on the same side as you were Jay!! I saw Florian with the flag as well..it was cool!!

[Nirmal]

Hi Guys,
I won't be able to make it to the open today. I will try to be there tomorrow for the evening session. Jay, I was on the same side as Gautham during mahesh's match and then I moved over to Florian's side too. I had a bad headache, so had to leave at the end of the second set.
Couldn't meet you but meet Leander and Vijay, took pictures with them.
Hope to see you around sometime.
-Nirmal

[prasen9]

I think we should stop mentioning SU and NU's possibility of playing for India. I have seen (some) Americans of Indian origin genuinely feel for both countries and all such talk should not geopardize their chances of support from the USTA if they want to keep representing the U.S. Mahesh's mentioning SU's win as good for Indian tennis might create problems. Let them decide their own future. Speculations and rumours do not help anybody even though they might have some truth in them.

-pm