The Renaissance of Rastogi

Ask anyone for the current top Indian tennis players and you are likely to get one of the following answers - Somdev Devvarman, Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi or Rohan Bopanna. Some might even mention Yuki Bhambri, the 19 year old former world #1 junior, who is now trying to break into the professional ranks.

No one would likely mention Karan Rastogi. But while no one was watching, this 24 year old Mumbai lad has become India’s #2 singles player on the men’s side in a span of 16 months that saw him go from unranked in October 2009 to a place in the top 300 in the world rankings for the first time this week, up 44 positions to #284.

Rastogi has not exactly bolted out of the blue. He reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open Junior Championships in 2004 and was ranked #4 in the junior world rankings that same year. Within a couple of years, he started having modest success on the lower rung ITF Futures circuit and reached #329 in the rankings in June 2006. But soon, poor form and injuries began to take their toll. In 2008, he suffered a severe back injury which required surgery and meant that he would not play competitive tennis for 16 months – half-a-lifetime in the career of a tennis player. Having to start from scratch without a ranking or a sponsor, Rastogi pursued his comeback earnestly and started trotting the globe again in October 2009 in search of valuable ranking points and match fitness. He struggled in the initial months – unable to string together enough wins to give him confidence that he would be able to compete again with the world’s best. However in March 2010, things finally started coming together again. He battled through five opponents to win the ITF Futures title in India, including three matches that went to three sets for his first title in his comeback. In May, he reached the final of back-to-back Futures events in India – the results good enough to put him back into the top 500 in the rankings. Rastogi struck another purple patch in October last year when he reached back-to-back Futures finals in Nigeria, wining one of them for his second title in 5 months. Those results put him inside the world’s top 330, nearing his career best ranking from 2006.

Last month, Rastogi was beaten in the first round of qualifying at the ATP Chennai Open and in the second round of the Singapore Challenger but a week ago, he went on to win another Futures title in Cambodia – which has now seen his ranking move to his new career best of #284.

Inspite of all the hard work an success, Rastogi is yet to receive the recognition that he has toiled so hard for. He was not given a wild card for the main draw of the ATP Chennai Open and instead had to play the qualifying draw. Organizers chose instead to give the wild card to Rohan Bopanna, at best a part-time singles player, as a reward for his Davis Cup win over world #75 Ricarod Mello, of Brazil in the deciding match of the Davis Cup tie in September – that win put India into the prestigious World Group for the seond year running. And it is unlikely that Rastogi will get a chance to play singles when Inda takes on defending chapions Serbia in March with Bopanna once again to likely get the nod.

But Rastogi is not complaining. He will continue to focus on himself and his game in the coming months and aim to break into the top 200 by end of the year. That will enable him to play the qualifying draws of the Grand Slams as well. And we at Tennis Chronicles will be there - following him all year round as he continues his journey on the professional circuit.

Sania loses; Joachim Johansson returns

India's Sania Mirza has lost in the first round of the qualifying draw for the WTA event in Pattaya. Mirza was beaten by Galina Voskoboeva 6-4, 6-4 for the second time in three career meetings. The Russian ranked #560 in the world, did not play in 2010 after the French Open due to injury and is now trying to get back to her career best rank of #94.

In the ATP Challenger event in Italy, Sweden's Joachim Johansson has been granted a wild card. The former world #9 attempted a comeback from injury in 2009 but has played only one event in all of 2010 - Sweden's Davis Cup tie in March. Another wild card entrant in the same event is former world #12 Dominik Hrbaty. The 33 year old Slovak is now ranked #459 in the world.

In the latest ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman moves to a new career high ranking of #80 after reaching the final of the SA Open in Johannesburg. Also, India's third ranked player Vishnu Vardhan moves up 36 positions to #354 after the points of reaching the finals of the ITF Cambodia F1 Futures were added to his tally.

Finally, a little known 16 year old Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan has won two matches and is now one win away from qualifying for the ITF Futures event in Spain beng played on clay.Ramanathan beat 16th seed Toby Martin of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in the first round and then beat Spaniard Carlos Tajes Alonso 6-0, 6-0 and now plays 8th seed Marco Bortolotti of Italy in the final round of qualifying.

Somedev reaches semis of ATP South African Open

India's Somdev Devvarman advanced to his second ever semi-final on the ATP Tour with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory over local favourite Rik De Voest at the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg. The Commonwealth gold medallist has been this far in an ATP event only once before when he reached the finals of the ATP event in Chennai.
Devvarman's opponent in the semis will be another South African Izak van der Merwe . The 170th ranked wild card entrant defeated Simon Greul of Germany 7-6 (5), 6-2. The 170th-ranked Van der Merwe broke his opponent twice in the second set to win at Montecasino.

Devvarman reached the quarter-finals here last year and besides defending those points, he will gain an additional 45 ranking points atleast which will move him back close to his career best ranking of #94. A win in the semis tomorrow will assure him of a new career best ranking in the late 70s next week.

Meanwhile in the ITF Futures in Cambodia, top seed Karan Rastogi beat compatriot Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the finals where he will face another Indian Vijau Sundar Prashanth, who beat Arata Onozawa, of Japan, 6-2, 7-5. The result will ensure that Rastogi will move into the top 300 in the world for the first time in his career when the points gets added to his ranking. A commendabl effort for someone who was not ranked at all just 16 months ago due to injury.

Pulling down our heroes

Novak Djokovic and Kim Clijsters were the winners of the just concluded Australian Open ; Djokovic winning his second major in Melbourne and Clijsters winning her second consecutive major (half way to her Grand-Mother-Slam) – but it was China’s Na Li who captured the imagination of the tennis world as the year’s first Grand Slam went down to the wire. Li had been to the semi-finals of a major event only once previously (in Melbourne last year) but came into this year’s tournament having won the Sydney WTA event, a pivotal tune-up for the women, beating Clijsters in the final, and headed to Melbourne as a dark horse. In previous years, her ball-striking ability has got as much attention as her inability to play her best consistently with the top women at the key events. And while she enhanced her giant killer reputation with wins over higher ranked Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round and top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals (where she saved a match point), it was her interviews on the court and in the press room that warmed the hearts of the tennis media and fans worldwide. Her candid and funny responses in broken English touched upon various aspects of her personal life – from her husband's snoring habits to her motivation when she was down a set in the semis.

But apparently, being the first player from your country to reach the world's top 10 and also the first player from your continent to reach a Grand Slam final isn't enough to please everyone back home. National pride has turned into a rally of abuse after it was reported that Li asked the chair umpire during the finals to tell the Chinese fans to stop teaching her how to play tennis and also repeated the same in her press conference later. Her remarks have led to a flurry of negative remarks on the micro-blogging Twitter while the state run Global Times newspaper reported, “While being a Chinese, Li asked a foreigner (British umpire) to demand the Chinese spectators stop shouting, making her just like an outsider.” This is not the first time that the tattooed Li has been the subject of controversy back home. In 2008, she demanded independence from the Chinese tennis federation - choosing to determine her own schedule of events, hire her own coaching team and also retain a larger part of her earnings than earlier permitted – cultivating the image of a rare rebel in the tightly controlled Chinese sporting scene.

This phenomenon is not exactly new in Asia. A few years ago, when Sania Mirza was making waves on the WTA tour as she rose to a career high #27 in the rankings and going where no Indian woman had ever tread before, the Indian was subject to several backlashes back home. Controversies engulfed her, ranging from showing disrespect to the Indian flag, to Muslim clerics objecting to her playing in short skirts and her views on pre-marital sex - and Mirza was at the receiving end of heavy criticism – so much so that she decided at one point not to play in India's only WTA event as she did not want to deal with these elements.

As athletes, Li & Mirza have proven to be path breakers – symbols that with the right talent & right opportunities, Asian women can compete with the world's best on the tennis court. But they also stand as a symbol of something more. Li as a symbol that it is possible for Chinese athletes to branch out from the their tight fisted federations and achieve success . Mirza, a symbol of the modern Muslim woman, one with the ability to speak her mind and stand independently on and off the court. It is these virtues which they stand for that the authorities in their respective countries are not exactly gung-ho about. As long as the backlash remains contained among the few who have a vested interest in promoting their own propaganda, things should remain fine. But when this mixes with the disappointment of the fans when the very same athletes fail to maintain the high standards that they have set, it becomes a potent & dangerous combination. The two countries have far too few sporting women role models but far too many people willing to pull these national heroes down instead of celebrating them.

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Djokovic to miss Davis Cup tie with India

Novak Djokovic is busy winning Down Under but at home, politicking continues between his father and Serbian federation president Bobo Zivojinovic.

Last year, Srdjan Djokovic announced he would be fielding candidates for election to the board of the federation, an attempt to get support to build a national tennis centre. But despite such efforts, Zivojinovic was re-elected as president of the federation this week. He promised to focus "all our efforts towards building the National Tennis Centre."

Zivojinovic also said that Novak would not play the opening round of Davis Cup this year, having led the team to victory last season. The decision was about scheduling, not politics, insisted Zivonjinovic.

"Novak will be missing from the Davis Cup team for the tie against India as he will be preparing for the US tour which he played really poorly two years ago," said the newly re-elcted president. " Also, there is no need to have a player like him on the team. We can do without him against India. I have no doubt this has nothing to do with Djokovic snubbing me and refusing to play for the Davis Cup team.”

Update courtesy Tennis.com ticker

Ivanovic, Safina suffer hearbreaking losses

Two women, once on top of the tennis world and now struggling to return to the game’s elite, exited the Australian Open on Tuesday evening suffering contrasting defeats, further delaying and, perhaps derailing, their comeback efforts. While Ana Ivanovic, looking leaner and fitter than she has been in recent years, was being beaten by Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the Hisense Arena in a thrilling third set, Dinara Safina was being bludgeoned by consensus favorite Kim Clijsters next door at the Rod Laver Arena. The two women will now pack their bags from Melbourne and head to their next tournament destination hoping and praying for some good form and maybe some good luck as well.

To be fair to Ivanovic, she has managed to get herself out of the freefall that Safina currently finds herself in. In 2008, Ivanovic was the new darling of women’s tennis – winning her first Grand Slam in Paris and ascending to the world #1 position. Injuries and the pressure of living up to her top billing soon saw her spiral down the rankings. The losses and tears became all the more frequent. But not giving up hope, Ivanovic struck a purple patch towards the end of 2010 – winning 2 of her last 3 events of the year (13 of her last 15 matches) and climbing back from #65 to inside the world’s top 20. Many picked her with an outside chance to go all the way in Melbourne in a draw left wide open by the absence of an injured Serena Williams. But an abdominal strain during the Hopman Cup ten days ago meant Ivanovic would be fighting her own fitness concerns heading into Melbourne. Still, she started off strong on Tuesday winning the first set 6-3. Makarova, a left hander who qualified and went on to win the Eastbourne Championships last June, fought back to take the second 6-4. When Ana surged ahead 3-1 in the third, many of her fans must’ve heaved a sigh of relief. But not Makarova. Instead, she put her foot on the accelerator, and managed to break back. Reeling under the pressure serving at 4-5, Ana went down triple match point but saved every one of them - holding serve for 5-5. One more match point at 5-6 and 7-8 were also saved by the Serb; each save ending with an even more desperate fist pump. The Russian, however, kept the pressure on while Ana seemed to be playing on the backfoot. Makarova reached double match point again at 9-8 and this time she needed only one to complete a thrilling victory in 2 hours and 37 minutes. The loss is certainly a setback for Ana who was hoping a good result in Melbourne would launch her return to the world’s top 10. Ana appeared positive in her post match conference, “This match, this loss is tough. But I had a lot of positive things come out of this match. I really stay positive throughout the whole match. I gave my best. That's all I can ask for.
You know, today she was better. All credit to her. But, uhm, I still have lot of room to improve and lot of things to build on. And I certainly still believe I can get back to top 10, and I believe I can do it in this year.” It will certainly be interesting to see how she rebounds from this loss in the next few months.

The woman Ana beat for her first and only Grand Slam title in Paris 2008 was none other than Safina herself. And while Ana’s stock was plumetting in 2009, Safina's was quickly rising. She reached 3 Slam finals between the French Opens in 2008 and 2009, beaten each time in straight sets by her opponents and her nerves. In spite of that, she managed to attain the world #1 ranking in April 2009. The relentless questioning of her top billing by the sports media only added to her nerves; and coupled with a serious back injury and a severe loss of confidence, Safina now finds herself in the midst of a free fall that she admittedly does not know how to get out of. She lasted all of 45 minutes against Clijsters on Tuesday and was unable to win a single game off the Belgian – losing 6-0, 6-0 and winning only 16 points in the encounter. This on the back of a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing at the quirky hands of top 20 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in Hobart last week– and Safina is now in the midst of a five match losing streak. She is down to #75 in the rankings and after failing to defend her points from Melbourne last year where she reached the 4th round, Safina is expected to drop to around #115 in the next WTA rankings. She could rely on wild cards to compete in bigger events for the rest of the year or take a step back and play the lower rung events in an attempt to win her confidence back. I’m not sure which the right answer is. Neither does Safina. Speaking in her post match conference, Safina said, “ If I would know the answer, I guess I would do different things. I don't know. I didn't know how to win a point. Basically came to this thing. I didn't know. I was sitting in the changeover and I was like, okay, at least how can I get a chance to hurt her? There was nothing that I could hurt her. . I've been doing two months of pre season. I'm fully motivated. I practiced hard. I cannot say that I didn't practice hard.
But I guess something was not right. I don't know. I have to figure out the answers. But first week, okay, was bad luck against Yanina. She played some good tennis. It was 6 1 in the third. It was close. But to lose two tournaments in a row 6 Love, 6 1, 6 Love, 6 Love. It's really to scratch the head and to think what the hell I'm doing. It's not that I don't want. I want. There's no doubt about. I want to come back and I want to play better. But now to find answers how I can come back.”

One can only hope that Ana and Dinara will get that winning feeling back. They are too nice, as people, and too good, as players, to be languishing among the also-rans in a sport that is overdosing on personalities but lacking on star peformers. Two other women with compelling storylines also lost on Tuesday. Mirjana Lucic, back in the top 100 after spending years in wilderness, was beaten 4-6, 2-6 by pretty Romanian Sorana Cirstea while 40 year old Kimiko Date-Krumm nearly pulled off another incredible upset, letting go of a 4-1 final set lead over world #14 Agnieska Radwanska, who finally won 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. There was some reason to smile for the sentamentlaists though as Alicia Molik pulled off a 1-6, 6-3 8-6 win over Roberta Vinci, an Italian ranked nearly 100 places higher than Molik’s current rank of #134. The Australian, also struggling to get back to her former glory days after injuries sent her into premature retirement, has fond memories of Melbourne Park. It was here in 2005 that she upset Venus Williams en route to a quarter-final finish and a top 10 ranking. And it will be here on Thursday that she will hope to upset the applecart once again when she takes on the seeded Russian Nadia Petrova in what is likely to be a headlining evening session encounter. That encounter should likely kick off 24 hours after Jelena Dokic plays her second round match at the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow evening against Barbora Strycova. Dokic, once ranked as high as #4, has struggled in the past with an abusive father and crippling depression that made her drop out of the game for a few years in the mid-2000's. She will now be hoping for a repeat of her magical 2008 run when, as the 187th ranked wild card entrant, she marched on to the quater-finals and was beaten by Safina herself. Every win in Melbourne for Molik and Dokic will go a long way in re-establishing themslves as legitimate top 100 players; and hopefully will serve as a remider for Safina... that sometimes you have to fall really hard before you can rise again.

Advantage Sania!!

For a while in the beginning of their first round match, Sania Mirza seemed to be playing at her very best – swinging her forehand with carefree abandon and snapping her wrist for powerful winners - while her opponent, the seven-times Grand Slam champion Justine Henin was scrambling furiously around the baseline and struggling to handle the pace of Mirza’s shots. The 24 year old Indian broke Henin on her first two service games to go up 3-1 in the first set and even had two chances on her own serve to go up 4-1 - losing the second of those chances when a winning backhand she hit was called out but was actually shown to be in when Sania challenged the call - she lost the point when it was replayed and then the game. Slowly but surely, Henin used her exemplary skills to get back into the set breaking Mirza at 4-4 thanks to two double faults from her opponent. Sania is not known to be the best player under pressure but it was she who staved off a set point on Henin’s serve at 4-5, 30-40 to break back for 5-5. Sania then went on to hold serve and broke Henin again to win the first set 7-5, in 60 minutes, much to the delight of the small Indian contingent on the showcourt Hisense Arena but to the surprise of most others there.

Henin started the second set strong, breaking for an early 2-0 lead. But Sania did not wilt. She broke back for 2-2, playing tennis far more superior than her #145 ranking might suggest. In her next service game, she built a 30-0 lead but another double fault and three unforced errors quickly gave the break back to Henin, who then held for 4-2. With Henin serving at 4-3, the two engaged in a pivotal game. Multiple break points for Sania. Henin saved them all. Multiple game points for Henin. Sania saved them all. Watching it, you could almost sense that the match would hinge on the outcome of this pivotal game. Henin finally managed to hold on for 5-3 and then broke the Indian again to win the second set 6-3 in 44 minutes.

The Belgian also started the third set strongly, racing to a 3-0 lead. Sania managed to stem the rot and hold to get on the scoreboard but was unable to put much of a fight thereafter as Henin won the next three games to complete a hard fought 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory in 2 hours 12 minutes.

There’s plenty of positives for Sania to take away from this match. For two sets, she managed to stay toe-to-toe with Henin, trading groundstrokes with one of the most versatile and powerful players on tour. More importantly, she was able to go head to head with Henin on several backhand to backhand rallies as well. In her post match interview, Henin had this to say about her opponent, “Well, I was ready it could be a tough match because she's not a qualifier like maybe the others, as she has been in this type of situation. She has been in the top 30, I think. She can play a very solid tennis. So the beginning wasn't that easy for me. She was playing high rhythm, not a lot of mistakes at the beginning, and it was tough for me because I was running a lot. To get into the match, that wasn't the perfect situation for me to come into the tournament.” Surely, a good sign for Sania’s game and confidence,. If only she improved her serve, 9 double faults in total in this match, Sania would be winning many more matches. Having won three matches to qualify, she probably got the toughest draw possible against Henin, one of the leading contenders for the title here in Melbourne, in spite of not having played on the tour since an elbow injury at Wimbledon last June. Sania has now won 10 of her last 12 matches on tour in the last 45 days, including 5 matches in 2011 - 2 in qualifying at the WTA event in Auckland and the three in qualifying here. Last year, thanks to a wrist injury, a controversial wedding to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, and months of inaction, she had to wait until July for her fifth win on tour. And with only 2 points to defend from now until June, the Indian should be back in the top 100 soon provided she is able to remain healthy. Her efforts in Melbourne this week will fetch her 65 ranking points – good enough to take her back to around #130 from her current ranking of #145. After completing doubles duty in Melbourne, where will play in the mixed and is also paired with Renata Voracova in the women’s doubles, Sania will move to the WTA stops in Pattaya and Dubai as she continues her quest to get back into sport’s higher ranks. Both cities have been happy hunting grounds for her in the past and with a strong Indian expat crowd to cheer her on in both venues, Sania will be hoping to gain enough points to ensure she gains direct entry into the next two Slams of the year and silence some of her critics who wrote her off following her injuries and marriage last year. Justine Henin moves into the second round but it’s certainly advantage Sania for now.