Life on the Road - Part II

So by the time we check out of Hotel Pearl, its already 8-40 am. We decide to head straight to Solaris Club and check out our schedules. A few wrong turns notwithstanding, we reach the club by 9-10. Its a pretty nice club with 5 courts and they also have badmintion, squash, TT and swimming facilities. A quick look at the draw and we don't see our names. My heart sinks. Did the guy we send to sign us in to the event on Friday afternoon goof-up??

A talk with the tournament reps allay our fears. Ashutosh Goel is in the draw as Ashutosh Goid and Haresh Ramchandani is in the draw as Harsh Rameshwari. Ashu's match is scheduled for 10-30 am against A. Venkatesh Prasad, who we later found out is a 17 year old from Hyderabad. Mine is scheduled for 12-45 pm at another club - Deccan Gymkhana against Ishan Singh. We have more than an hour for his match so we decide to eat some omelette sandwiches and look at some of the other matches. One of the players particpating is hearing impaired - I wonder whether not being able to hear the sound of the ball is a disadvantage to him. But I guess he must have gotten used to it. His infectious spirit is backed by an efficeint game - good serve, good groundstrokes. Another player who looks almost 40 years old is playing some teenager in a close battle with a lot of close and contentious line calls (at this level, you make your own calls).

Ashu's match is called at 10-40 and as he warms up, Ashu dissects his opponents game - good topspin on his groundstrokes and decent serve. He realises he is in for a tough time. As the match begins, Prasad unleashes a bigger serve than what he showed during the warm up. Ashu himself throws in a few double faults and does not bring his A-game to the court. Credit for that also goes to his opponent who used his serve and forehand to great effect. Prasad wins 7-0.

As we head to Deccan Gymkhana for my match, I ask Ashu if the experience was worth it, and if he would be keen to do this again for the Pune AITA events in December, He replies a resounding yes. There's the spirit he is so well-known for.

We reach Deccan Gymkhana by 12 noon. I need to go to the loo again (my third trip since this morning). At around 12-40 my match is called against Ishan Singh - who looks like another 17 year old. As I warm up with him, I realise he is left-handed and plays with a lot of topspin. I know it will be tough but I always fancy my chances no matter who my opponent is.

I win the toss, elect to serve and quickly throw in three double faults in the first game and lose my serve. Ishan returns the favour and also throws in a couple of double faults as I break him back. I hold my serve for 2-1 and win a couple of rallies when I manage to keep the ball in play and Ishan makes an error. However, the spin on his left handed serve is too muh for me. I am unable to get many of them back and also not able to hold my own serve. Ishan wins the next six games to complete a 7-2 victory.

Time to pack our bags. This trip was not what either Ashu or I expected. Ashu hoped to put a better show than losing 0-7 and I hoped to win atleast one match. But there's not much either of us can do about it now. Shower at the club and a good lunch at Malaka Spice in Koregan Park is just complete and we will hit the road to Bombay in a couple of hours. Our journey as wannabe tennis players will take a break for a while but its back to the courts at MSLTA tomorrow morning.