Theirs was the story of the year

It is difficult to remember a year when Indian tennis had it so good. Whichever way you look, there were moments which went on to occupy a ...

It is difficult to remember a year when Indian tennis had it so good. Whichever way you look, there were moments which went on to occupy a special place in the country’s history. From a promising beginning in Chennai the story wound its way through the clay and indoor courts of Europe and the hard courts of the United States culminating in snowy Hartford where the Indians fell a heart beat away from being world champions.

Not since the time of Krishnan or for that matter the Amritraj-Ramesh era had two lads — Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi — given the country so much to be proud about. In fact, they may have well overshadowed the achievements of those legends of yesteryears in a span of a couple of months and, suddenly, Indian tennis is looming large on the world scene.

What set these two apart was their ability to come back from situations which would otherwise have gone down as yet another `glorious Indian defeat’. They were the perennial underdogs who took on the best in the world and found themselves on top of the world.

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They displayed to the world an unknown facet — the Indian mind — which was perhaps the most vulnerable when it came to victories on the sporting fields. Earlier, it was a question of playing a good match, ending up losing and the poor fan had to return home hoping for a better tomorrow.

There were times when they won matches on the sheer strength of their mind, that unique never-say-quits attitude. Bhupathi’s win over the Chilean Gilbert Silberstein on that furnace-like September afternoon, after being two sets to love down, symbolised that spirit. That not only kept India in the 16-member Davis Cup World Cup, a competition played by over 150 countries, but also went on show that Indians can still come back from the dead to fashion epic wins.

And to think that none of them managed to break into the top 100 in singles, make their case all the more interesting. Normally, a player is known by the number mentioned against his name when the ATP rankings roll out every Monday. The lesser the digits, better the player you are. Both Paes and Bhupathi did not enjoy the luxury of seeing their singles ranking zoom up like their doubles rankings. But clubbed together they turned out to be one of the best in the world. Starting way below in the poverty-stricken 100s, they ended the year at a majestic five among the teams.

No Indian has gone thus far and if the rave reviews they collected along the road to Hartford are any indication, the world is just opening up to them. Two years as a team, they are fifth. So does the third year have in store for them? Five steps up? Oh, it would be so lonely at the top.

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Postscript: In a godforsaken place called Pribram somewhere in the Czech Republic, Paes almost pulled off another Davis Cup magic. He fell just short and the tears he shed on that wintry February would have gone a long way in strengthening his resolve further.