$15K+H ITF Futures, Chennai (March 21)

[srivaths]

Harsh broke him in the second game itself to take an early 2-0 lead. But he was broken back in the fifth game (2-3). From then on, it was pretty much one way traffic. The Slovakian guy won his next game only in the sixth game of the second set.

Yes, it was complete domination. His serving was as usual brilliant. He put in a decent percentage of first serves - there were quite a few aces but I don't have a count - but the real story for me was the quality of his second serves. They were hit hard and deep, many of them just grazing the lines. This really seemed to rile his opponent as he just couldn't build any momentum. And as someone(Kumar I am guessing) mentioned, his return game was great too. Kapkovic's first serve percentage was abysmal, and Harsh was all over his second serves. And even when they did get into a baseline duel, Harsh was just too solid and consistent with both the pace and placement of his groundstrokes. And don't forget he is very good at creeping into the net and finishing points off before the other guy knows what hit him. And he seems to mix things up just perfectly. He doesn't rush to the net blindly. He hits some really solid grounsdtrokes and moves his opponent all over the baseline before coming in for the kill. And the reason you've been seeing such lopsided scorelines is that he makes very few unforced errors. To understate it, he is in pretty decent form. Yes, he should break into the Challenger circuit pretty soon. And there's hopefully much more to come.

When I can find the time, I'll try and write a little more about his rhythm.

[jayakris]

he is very good at creeping into the net and finishing points off before the other guy knows what hit him. And he seems to mix things up just perfectly. He doesn't rush to the net blindly

Very nice summary. Yes, he "creeps to the net" .. He has very smooth movements in general. The best thing he does is to not commit to the net game and telegraph the intentions. Many serve and volleyers do that "blindly" as you say, and it often does not work. Have total faith in the rest of your game and keep looking to move up. To some extent this makes Harsh's game look like it is not aggressive enough - because the "blind" serve and volleyers have a way of making it look more aggressive though less effective. The key is the faith you have in your groundies, accuracy, baseline game and stamina that you don't ever feel the need to rush it. Just let the game flow.

Keep it up Harsh.

Jay

[srivaths]

My postscript didn't get uploaded. Harsh made it a point to thank Happy Bhalla in his victory speech. He credited him for all the improvements.

[Kumar]

My plans for travel got pushed back a day, so I should be able to put the match report tomorrow..

Jay and Dhruv are paying Kumar an arm and a limb to do the reporting from Chennai. I wonder what Kumar will ask for if he has to take photos of the players also.

Good idea amr090.

Kumar, a few photos will be great.

And as per special request from members, I have some photos that I will try to upload tomorrow.. I have just uploaded one photo for sample.. the presentation photos won't be available for a while..

I am also wondering what I should ask !!! Bhushan, any ideas?

[PKBasu]

Well we all talk a lot about the mental aspects of the work Happy Bhalla has done with Harsh.
But I think he has also done some vital work on Harsh's tennis. It used to often be said about Harsh that he doesn't have any "weapons" -- unique strengths that can hurt an opponent. I would say Harsh has two weapons now after intense work by Happy on certain existing areas of strength: (a) return of serve, and (b) the second service. Indian players have traditionally had weak second serves; Harsh clearly has a potent one.

All of that, plus the ability to mix it up -- especially using his good net game (developed in doubles) to finish points off by coming to the net. When a baseliner like Agassi develops a good volley and the ability to use the net as his ally, he begins to look unstoppable. Harsh Mankad for you this week!!

[S_K_S]

Fantastic news. Been to busy with work over the past few weeks to follow daily but it's great to log on and catch up and read about another win and another title! Way to go.

[jayakris]

Samarth -- also, HM will be back there in Nottingham by Apr 18th most probably, unless the entry cut moved up too much in the last couple of days now. So, make your plans for all your reporting for us, NOW!

Jay

[Florian Buechting]

Well done Harsh, you are now on the right track, just go on!

Great to see Rohan coming back better now. What a perfect tournament for us....

[jai_in_canada]

That's fantastic news - Harsh winning so emphatically.
Re. giving thanks to Happy Bhalla - I'm sure that the credit is richly deserved.
However, the mind-body connection is extremely important.
In other words, unless the body is able to execute what the mind/spirit/heart intuits, you cannot be a great sportsman.
What i am saying is this - me thinks that it is the serendipitous combination of three things (a) the physical training at HEAT thanks to Jay (b) Happy's tennis nirvana (c) Harsh's ablity and willingness to assimilate these elements, that is showing in the results. Keep up the fantastic work, Harsh. We are so happy for you - no pun intended

[BSharma]

Wow, fantastic, fabulous. What else can I say? Harsh is the best thing since sliced bread for Indian men's tennis right now. I hope the Indian junior players and AITA are paying close attention to what Harsh has been doing for the past year or so. His improvement is not a fluke but is due to a carefully laid out plan. It started with his desire and determination to reach the mountain top, and was made possible due to his focus on physical conditioning, mental training and coaching.

[BSharma]

Kumar wrote:

Quote:
Jay and Dhruv are paying Kumar an arm and a limb to do the reporting from Chennai. I wonder what Kumar will ask for if he has to take photos of the players also.

Good idea amr090.

Kumar, a few photos will be great.



And as per special request from members, I have some photos that I will try to upload tomorrow.. I have just uploaded one photo for sample.. the presentation photos won't be available for a while..

I am also wondering what I should ask !!! Bhushan, any ideas?

Kumar, a Bata from Jay is worth more than the Pulitzer award in journalism.

Thanks for your brilliant reporting. Florian, Kunal (Red_Indian), Kumar, Srivaths, etc have already won the Pulitzer award of Sports-India/Tennis-India. Jay will hand out his awards at the annual Tennis-India Bata Award function.

[PKBasu]

For completeness' sake, here's Keerthivasan's report on the final from the Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/27/stories ... 361600.htm

[Kumar]

Hopefully to complement Keerthi's report,

Harsh Dismantles Capkovic

With Sehwag in blistering form and fast approaching a double century, I enthusiastically set out for Gymkhana club to see another Indian who has been on a similar demolition run the last few days… Two Indians tried to beat Capkovic and came out empty handed… Would Third time prove to be a charm?

I reached the court well in advance and once again disappointment was in store as preparations were going on for ‘cultural program’!!!! Somebody whispered about sports dance, but what followed (around 3:05 – 3:10 pm) was a dance in which no one had any interest… May be if there were some pretty girls the story would have been different( I would have probably used my zoom lens and taken some pics) … Right off the racquet, they missed the tune when they moved all the way from Court 2 to Centre court gravitating towards the crowd … My guess is they wanted to retain Harsh here in Chennai for one more day, by trampling the courts and making it unfit for play… But Mr.AnandMohan quickly stepped in and pushed them back… So why all this rambling about this ‘Cultural Program’, which has nothing to do with Harsh or Tennis match… We have a saying in Tamil which loosely translates as ‘Let the world also get the happiness that I have received’… After two dances, they luckily gave away to our star…

At around 3:20, Capkovic entered to the muted applause, while HM entered to Thunderous applause!!!! Capkovic who earlier had squeaked past a tiring Bofors and overwhelmed sluggish Karan hoping for hat trick of wins against Indians.. And the match started in earnest, with most of the seats in the gallery filled !!!

First Set..
The Very first game saw HM showing some signs of nerve going down quickly 0-30 on his own serve… Then with a stunning FH CC winner and three errors from the Tall Slovakian, HM took the first game 1-0… This set the tune for the entire match with Harsh winners punctuating Capkovic Errors!!! Capkovic started off with a DF and quickly was down love-30… Capkovic managed to take it to 30-30, but HM with a FH Winner had a BP… With Capkovic not getting his first serve in and after an initial DF was serving weakly on his second serve… On BP, Harsh moved well with in the Baseline hitting a deep return to which Capkovic could muster only a blocked shot that flew harmlessly out… And break for HM to take a 2-0 lead… Third game saw Harsh taking a quick 40-0 lead that was highlighted by FH DL winner and Great serve and volley… And then quickly taking 3-0 lead with a good deep serve(40-15)… Capkovic started shouting to himself now, really not in his elements… Capkovic then was able to hold serve to 3-1… Then the first and only signs of trouble for HM who had an uncharacteristic Error filled game (three Errors) to be down two BP 15-40… HM could have still come back in this game, but ‘Cap’ had a lucky net chord break going his way which was heroically retrieved by HM only to see ‘Cap’ hit a DL (down the line) winner to break HM and get back into match momentarily… Now ‘Cap’ had life, but Harsh just shifted to higher gear in the 6th game.. Starting with FH TS (top spin) winner and BH DL winner Harsh quickly had a BP 30-40… Attacking ‘Cap’s weak second serve on BP, Harsh rushed to net only to see ‘Cap’ hit a blistering passing shot (or he though) to Harsh’s BH…But Harsh had other ideas and came up with a big lunge to hit a perfect BH volley at the net to break back for 4-2 lead… 7th game again saw HM making two quick errors to be down 15-30, before a drop volley at the net saw him come back and then hold serve to go up 5-2.. 8th Game was just a formality as HM was now in full throttle attacking ‘Cap’s weak second serve and hitting Return winners at will to break ‘Cap’ (when he hit a FH long) for a 6-2 first set..

Second set…
Harsh quickly held serve at love in the first game (With some deep serving and BH CC Winner) to take 1-0 lead… Second game had some drama, when HM hit a BH DL (at 30-30) which was called out by the line umpire.. But the chief umpire immediately overruled giving HM a break point… Cap didn’t take this very well, alternately looking at the umpire and mark… At this point the writing was on the wall, as Cap walked slowly back to baseline to serve!!! Cap couldn’t handle the return from HM putting it harmlessly to net to give HM a break and a 2-0 lead.. After this game, HM was hardly troubled as Cap was just going through the motions… HM quickly raced to 4-0 lead breaking Cap again in the 4th game.. And then to add insult to injury serving an ‘Ace’ and some big serves to hold serve for 5-0 (another love game)… Now audiences who had come to see an exciting match were clamoring ‘Cap’ to show some spine… And ‘Cap’ responded to their criticism with his only hold in the second set serving two aces and big deep serves in the process.. Then HM brought an end to ‘Cap’s misery to hold serve easily (punctuated with an ace) to win the second set 6-1…

After watching this clinical dismantling of Capkovic, one felt little sad for Vinod who was the only player to have had HM in a spot of bother…

This was just an awesome display from HM, who was hardly troubled in the match.. HM who had never seen Capkovic play prior to this match was quick to size up Cap’s strength and weakness.. Seeing that Cap was quiet content to play long rallies, HM started putting some depth and power into his ground strokes hurrying Cap and moving him all over the court… HM was also going for winners or very deep returns on Cap’s weak return… HM was also serving well with in himself and didn’t even have a single DF in the finals.. Served 2-3 aces.. All in all a great week for HM…


I will probably upload some photos in the next few days…

I should take this opportunity to thank ITF supervisor Mr. Puneet Gupta and Mr.Anand Mohan for providing me all the scores and an occasional cool drinks…And also a big thanks to HINDU Correspondent Mr.Keerthivasan who showed me the ropes of journalism!!! It gave me tremendous pleasure to cover this tournament and a big thanks to Jay/Dhurv for giving me such an opportunity by hosting the best Indian sports forum…And last but not least, thanks to all the sports forum members for patiently reading the long drawn reports and encouragements…

[gvhvhg]

This is getting monotonous but

GREAT JOB KUMAR

[gbelday]

Yeah man..really great job...I can see that you had a lot of fun! I had fun reading your reports as well...Great job...