With the world taking care of the most intriguing bug of them all - the millennium bug - tennis, it is presumed, has become Y2K compliant. Yet, the last Grand Slam of the century threw pointers at the fragile state of men's tennis when too much competition took its toll on two of the classiest players on the Tour. Pete Sampras didn't hit a ball, Patrick Rafter left a couple of sets into the tournament and many more groaned and sighed falling off somewhere along the way.The New Millennium with its new rules may only make the groaning louder. It's all about starting the year afresh, discarding old wins, and older points, giving all the players what is called a level-playing field. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) managers say that they have taken a cue from Formula-1 where every year drivers start fresh, irrespective of the results of the previous years.The new rules would be a way out of the cumbersome, and convoluted, system by which the rankings have been calculated all these years. Butthen, the key point is how many top stars will survive the added pressure of playing the Grand Slams, Super Nines, and even the Championship Series just to keep them in the race for a place in the season-ending World Championships.Earlier, the stars had weeks when they didn't have any points to defend. The claycourters had their clay season to make points, the die-hard hardcourters had theirs to make-up for their lack of expertise on clay. Hopefully, all that will change. The top players are going to make it anyway, despite the zero-point advantage the fringe players may enjoy in the beginning of the season.Indeed, life is going to be tougher for a player like Leander Paes. The Indian has gained in doubles what any player possibly could. His place in history, unfortunately, will be determined by the way he takes care of his singles career in the next couple of years. Sure, even he wouldn't want the historians to brand him a mere doubles player. For that, the new rules and the fact that there is nothingmore to achieve in doubles for him could spur him to look for that elusive singles glory.One singles title in 10 years on the Tour may not exactly reflect the potential that the man possesses. It may not be the same adrenalin-pumped Paes which one has seen till the last year or so, who can chip and charge his way to titles. After those heady fortnights at Paris and Wimbledon this year, the top-rated Indian should do well to shift his focus from the four-man game to the two-man concept.For all his spectacular achievements in the sport, the tragic part is that Paes still has to win a singles match at the All England Club, after his junior Wimbledon title, on a surface which he still thinks is his best. True, his only title came at Newport on grass last year when he climbed to a career-high ranking of 73.The Millennium offers a steep climb for the charismatic Indian. With his disappointing show in singles all set to be wiped away with the switch to new rules, Paes can now hope to start afresh. His dreamof cracking the top 50 will, hopefully, begin to take shape in the new era. In short, he's got to be Y2K compliant.S K John, whose dream came true this year when he saw an Indian win a Wimbledon title, can be reached at skjohn@express2.indexp.co.in
