I have been waiting to watch the final battle on the green, plush grass of the Wimbledon! After all, it would be the match between equals! And then the Tennis Machine stood Victor! The Clay Ray stood Vanquished!
Federer was not his usual self in the first four sets of the match though he had won two of them. Up 4-2 in the final set, the ultimate Tennis Machine rolled out such a set of fantastic products that the Vanquished had no choice except to be anguished!
Of course, the match also saw some tense moments of interest with occasional outbursts from Federer who had always against the creeping of technology into the game. Couple of times, he complained to the Chair Umpire about the Hawk Eye technology with such innocuous questions as "Can the technology be switched off?"! :-)
But, ultimately Federer deserves a hard party tonight after beating his best nemesis in the Finale de Fantastic! Amazing Federer. Hats off to you!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Doubles' Finals - Feast to the senses!
There are good men, and there are too good men! And,when they meet on court to battle out with four rackets and a shining yellow-felted ball, there will be only one thing common among all of them - goodness! For Heaven's sake, let it be there, coexisting with the kindness of the game! Oh! What a feast was that! When Prem/Praveen (PP) and Nitin/Jeffrey (NJ) met for the first time in the tournament for the Balle de Battle 2007, it SHOULD be a match! And it was!
The power of tennis was manifested in the powerful serves of Prem, good partnering support from Praveen with his slow but deep shots, long rallies from Nitin and fantastic smashes at the net from Jeffrey! The winner was the Game of Tennis! Prem shouted when the match score was evened out 2-6,6-3. And the airs listened to that ruffling the leaves in the distant trees! Finally, the devastating smashes won over the demolishing serves. NJ went away with the crown and ranked with the top honors with the match swaying in their way, 6-2,3-6,6-4.
The awards were presented after the match by Srinivas, Ramesh and Narendran. Emcee Sanjay was at his best compeering the program in his own style. Apart from the second runners-up, first runners-up and winners awards, an award for most promising player was presented to Harveen and two tokens of appreciation were presented to me and Kavitha for helping Murugan organizing the event. I was peeved at receiving this trophy primarily because I did all the help for Murugan just to help and did not expect any thing in return. I really did not expect this trophy or something else. The prime motivation for helping him was to induce an element of professional sense of thinking to the entire process. If it had succeeded then it was the most wonderful award for me!
Lunch was good after a grueling day of hard tennis. (Of course, I did not have any matches for myself, but was feeling double hungry just serving as line umpire in the warm sun! :-)) The beers were thrown and Satish, Gopal, Ben, Hari and Vigyan seemed to enjoy the drinks more than any one else! Gopal was at dancing on the court after his initial taste of beers! I saw Satish feeling shy walking across court; the innocuous smile reminiscent of a mischievous child doing the undoable! :-) With the background of Ilayaraja's classic old hits booming from Murugan's music system, the entire aura seemed to be filled with the incredible tennis machines! The soul of tennis was too conspicuous to be missed out among the many souls that were parched in the warm afternoon! Great was the day. And, great was the feeling. Great was the zest. I left the courts for home with a satisfied sense of doing something and having something that meant so much to me than anything to anyone in this anybody's world of everyone!
The power of tennis was manifested in the powerful serves of Prem, good partnering support from Praveen with his slow but deep shots, long rallies from Nitin and fantastic smashes at the net from Jeffrey! The winner was the Game of Tennis! Prem shouted when the match score was evened out 2-6,6-3. And the airs listened to that ruffling the leaves in the distant trees! Finally, the devastating smashes won over the demolishing serves. NJ went away with the crown and ranked with the top honors with the match swaying in their way, 6-2,3-6,6-4.
The awards were presented after the match by Srinivas, Ramesh and Narendran. Emcee Sanjay was at his best compeering the program in his own style. Apart from the second runners-up, first runners-up and winners awards, an award for most promising player was presented to Harveen and two tokens of appreciation were presented to me and Kavitha for helping Murugan organizing the event. I was peeved at receiving this trophy primarily because I did all the help for Murugan just to help and did not expect any thing in return. I really did not expect this trophy or something else. The prime motivation for helping him was to induce an element of professional sense of thinking to the entire process. If it had succeeded then it was the most wonderful award for me!
Lunch was good after a grueling day of hard tennis. (Of course, I did not have any matches for myself, but was feeling double hungry just serving as line umpire in the warm sun! :-)) The beers were thrown and Satish, Gopal, Ben, Hari and Vigyan seemed to enjoy the drinks more than any one else! Gopal was at dancing on the court after his initial taste of beers! I saw Satish feeling shy walking across court; the innocuous smile reminiscent of a mischievous child doing the undoable! :-) With the background of Ilayaraja's classic old hits booming from Murugan's music system, the entire aura seemed to be filled with the incredible tennis machines! The soul of tennis was too conspicuous to be missed out among the many souls that were parched in the warm afternoon! Great was the day. And, great was the feeling. Great was the zest. I left the courts for home with a satisfied sense of doing something and having something that meant so much to me than anything to anyone in this anybody's world of everyone!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Matches are made on court!
All the quarterfinal matches were played today amid soaring doubts on the possibility of the play with the incessant drizzling. But, the zeal of the players won over the hearts of the rain-gods and the court was made available to the players in time, thanks to Murugan and the ball-boys.
We had our tough opponent, Prem and Praveen. Mahesh could only hold one serve and I lost my first two serves. When we trailed the match 1-6, we lost all the hopes in the Heaven! :-) I had lots of fun struggling to put the new balls in play with the enormous bounce they had on the wet surface. The speed and the spin of the returns from Prem was difficult to deal with though occasionally my parter was able to attack the superb forehand of Prem. But, I think Prem/Praveen are beatable if the shots are controlled and percentage play is in play. :-)
Two of the other quarterfinal matches were pretty close and gave a nail-biting thrill to the spectators :) One, Gopal/Harveen against Mitra/Vigyan and two, Aravind/Balliga against Sagar/Srinivas. The former had to be decided with the tiebreak and the latter was a win for skills and consistency. Mitra/Vigyan seemed initially lost their fervor with Gopal fighting alone mostly for each point! Finally, he succumbed to the aggressive games of the former. Result: Mitra/Vigyan won 10-9! Aravind/Balliga too showed that they were the potential candidates for the finals with Balliga's powerful smashes at the net and Aravind's serves and slices!
Finally, on-court histrionics made the matches! :D
We had our tough opponent, Prem and Praveen. Mahesh could only hold one serve and I lost my first two serves. When we trailed the match 1-6, we lost all the hopes in the Heaven! :-) I had lots of fun struggling to put the new balls in play with the enormous bounce they had on the wet surface. The speed and the spin of the returns from Prem was difficult to deal with though occasionally my parter was able to attack the superb forehand of Prem. But, I think Prem/Praveen are beatable if the shots are controlled and percentage play is in play. :-)
Two of the other quarterfinal matches were pretty close and gave a nail-biting thrill to the spectators :) One, Gopal/Harveen against Mitra/Vigyan and two, Aravind/Balliga against Sagar/Srinivas. The former had to be decided with the tiebreak and the latter was a win for skills and consistency. Mitra/Vigyan seemed initially lost their fervor with Gopal fighting alone mostly for each point! Finally, he succumbed to the aggressive games of the former. Result: Mitra/Vigyan won 10-9! Aravind/Balliga too showed that they were the potential candidates for the finals with Balliga's powerful smashes at the net and Aravind's serves and slices!
Finally, on-court histrionics made the matches! :D
Friday, June 22, 2007
Up'set' and interesting matches!
In a match dominated by mental toughness and unexpected skill flaunting, Aravind/Balliga (AB) team routed the Jeffrey/Nitin (JN) team by eight games to four. This was the most surprising upset in the tournament until now, since every one was expecting JN to win the match given their synergistic strengths! But what is a world without any surprises!
In another close encounter, Gopal/Harveen (GH) beat Neel/Suyog (NS) in a tiebreak, 8-7(4). I had never seen Gopal relaxing on the court while his partner was allowed to run through the corners of the court! Something dawns, and Gopal wakes up and the ball listens to him! :-) That just happened when the match score reached 7-7 and there was a loud announcement for a tiebreak from the umpire. That's it! The ball just listened to Gopal and the rest was history! :-)
Now that the battles lines for the quarterfinals are almost drawn, let us look at the players in the group:
Prem/Praveen
Consistent and powerful serves and a fierce forehand combines is the Prem's game! Winner of the 2005 championship, he is undoubtedly one of the finest players in the academy and lends himself to any kind of game, whether partner's or opponent's.
Praveen is one of those few players who act fast in reaching the ball on the court. Though a slow server for himself, his forehand sometimes bangs the opponents and catch them in the corners!
Jeffrey/Nitin
Jeffrey has one the greatest smashes I have ever seen, though he might at times be inconsistent with the forehand shots. Note to his opponents: Never ever lob for him, because whether it is a deep lob or a shallow one, he jumps with his racket talking the rest! :-)
Nitin is one of the best players in the academy and has powerful ground strokes. Watch his first serve which would definitely be a feast to the lovers of the game.
Gopal/Harveen
When I saw Gopal for the first time, I had not expected him to be a wonderful player of the game! It was one of the rarest moments when my subjective mind deceived me! :-) He is perceived as the best player in the academy with his variety of shots and top-spin serves!
Harveen, though started the game late, picked it up so fast to leave the opponents in distress with her sudden attack on the length of the court! Guys, please take note of the sweet spots on her racket which gives her shots a superb aura of beauty.
Aravind/Balliga
The slicing master, Aravind, though a powerful baseline hitter, is often inconsistent with his serves. Don't ever allow him to meet the ball in the correct action for his forehand!
Balliga has a very good movement in the court and has very good serves. Given that serves wins the matches, he is the potent winner!
Abhishek/Satish
Abhishek is one of the good players given his control on the shots and the spinning and powerful serves! He seems to be quite emotional at times during the games, but nothing stops him to turn the game from disaster!
Satish has a unique forehand action and his consistent and continuous returns, wherever the ball is, makes opponents sometimes frustrating, thus forcing them to make unforced errors.
(By providence or incidence, these two good players are now out of the tournament, since they lost matches in the times of mutual inconsistencies! I wish you guys a better luck next time!)
Neel/Suyog
Neel is high on mental toughness and self-motivation. I think, because of his unmatched unforced errors, coupled with slow coverage of the court, he started losing his points. But, given his fighting spirit, I am sure, he will make it to a better result next time!
Suyog reaches the ball in the court irrespective of its pitch in the court. One of the things his opponents need to note and act is his sudden change in the angle of forehand and lobs!
In another close encounter, Gopal/Harveen (GH) beat Neel/Suyog (NS) in a tiebreak, 8-7(4). I had never seen Gopal relaxing on the court while his partner was allowed to run through the corners of the court! Something dawns, and Gopal wakes up and the ball listens to him! :-) That just happened when the match score reached 7-7 and there was a loud announcement for a tiebreak from the umpire. That's it! The ball just listened to Gopal and the rest was history! :-)
Now that the battles lines for the quarterfinals are almost drawn, let us look at the players in the group:
Prem/Praveen
Consistent and powerful serves and a fierce forehand combines is the Prem's game! Winner of the 2005 championship, he is undoubtedly one of the finest players in the academy and lends himself to any kind of game, whether partner's or opponent's.
Praveen is one of those few players who act fast in reaching the ball on the court. Though a slow server for himself, his forehand sometimes bangs the opponents and catch them in the corners!
Jeffrey/Nitin
Jeffrey has one the greatest smashes I have ever seen, though he might at times be inconsistent with the forehand shots. Note to his opponents: Never ever lob for him, because whether it is a deep lob or a shallow one, he jumps with his racket talking the rest! :-)
Nitin is one of the best players in the academy and has powerful ground strokes. Watch his first serve which would definitely be a feast to the lovers of the game.
Gopal/Harveen
When I saw Gopal for the first time, I had not expected him to be a wonderful player of the game! It was one of the rarest moments when my subjective mind deceived me! :-) He is perceived as the best player in the academy with his variety of shots and top-spin serves!
Harveen, though started the game late, picked it up so fast to leave the opponents in distress with her sudden attack on the length of the court! Guys, please take note of the sweet spots on her racket which gives her shots a superb aura of beauty.
Aravind/Balliga
The slicing master, Aravind, though a powerful baseline hitter, is often inconsistent with his serves. Don't ever allow him to meet the ball in the correct action for his forehand!
Balliga has a very good movement in the court and has very good serves. Given that serves wins the matches, he is the potent winner!
Abhishek/Satish
Abhishek is one of the good players given his control on the shots and the spinning and powerful serves! He seems to be quite emotional at times during the games, but nothing stops him to turn the game from disaster!
Satish has a unique forehand action and his consistent and continuous returns, wherever the ball is, makes opponents sometimes frustrating, thus forcing them to make unforced errors.
(By providence or incidence, these two good players are now out of the tournament, since they lost matches in the times of mutual inconsistencies! I wish you guys a better luck next time!)
Neel/Suyog
Neel is high on mental toughness and self-motivation. I think, because of his unmatched unforced errors, coupled with slow coverage of the court, he started losing his points. But, given his fighting spirit, I am sure, he will make it to a better result next time!
Suyog reaches the ball in the court irrespective of its pitch in the court. One of the things his opponents need to note and act is his sudden change in the angle of forehand and lobs!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Buckle up players!
There were two predictable matches today in Group B: Sagar/Srinivas vs Tilak/Rex and Mahesh/Me vs Tilak/Rex. In each of the matches Tilak/Rex were vanquished with 8-0!
Group B has had the most flux in terms of the partners. Consider this: Virendra/Ben formed a team. After playing a match, Ben walked away! Then Virendra teamed up with Tilak and they played a match too! But, after losing that match, Virendra lost his heart and he too walked away! Tilak had to team up with Rex finally! Though Tilak individually is a good baseline player, I think, teaming up with relatively a beginner is like inviting a disaster! And that proved costly for him! Finally, there are not eliminated from the tournament!
Let us see how the other teams in the Group B stand:
Sagar / Srinivas
Sagar has been of late fantastic with his forceful forehand, and given his height and raw power that he could generate, the opponents should really worry about the shots deep down the baseline! Srinivas is very consistent in his serves and picking up the open courts in the opponents. His percentage game is a real worry to the opponents.
Mitra / Vigyan
Mitra has a good game technical. Add to this his control and selection of shots and consistency in serves. People, beware of this guy! Vigyan is a very consistent player given that he has a variety of shots to choose from. His forehand shots on a low pitched balls is a treat to the eyes!
Jagdeep / Sanjay
Net! And you should remember Jagdeep! Or, he will make you remember for the rest of the day! :-) Watch the powerful volleys and smashes from him at the net! Sanjay's fierce forehand sometimes troubles the opponents! Of course, it is not his mistake! :-D
Mahesh / Mohan
I was amazed by the spin that Mahesh' forehand generates on the ball! Couple it with his amazing first serve which is a flat and fast one! Let me not talk about myself! Outrageous! Blasphemous, it would be to talk about myself here! Opponents have to just wait and see what Mohan can do! He he he! :D
Group B has had the most flux in terms of the partners. Consider this: Virendra/Ben formed a team. After playing a match, Ben walked away! Then Virendra teamed up with Tilak and they played a match too! But, after losing that match, Virendra lost his heart and he too walked away! Tilak had to team up with Rex finally! Though Tilak individually is a good baseline player, I think, teaming up with relatively a beginner is like inviting a disaster! And that proved costly for him! Finally, there are not eliminated from the tournament!
Let us see how the other teams in the Group B stand:
Sagar / Srinivas
Sagar has been of late fantastic with his forceful forehand, and given his height and raw power that he could generate, the opponents should really worry about the shots deep down the baseline! Srinivas is very consistent in his serves and picking up the open courts in the opponents. His percentage game is a real worry to the opponents.
Mitra / Vigyan
Mitra has a good game technical. Add to this his control and selection of shots and consistency in serves. People, beware of this guy! Vigyan is a very consistent player given that he has a variety of shots to choose from. His forehand shots on a low pitched balls is a treat to the eyes!
Jagdeep / Sanjay
Net! And you should remember Jagdeep! Or, he will make you remember for the rest of the day! :-) Watch the powerful volleys and smashes from him at the net! Sanjay's fierce forehand sometimes troubles the opponents! Of course, it is not his mistake! :-D
Mahesh / Mohan
I was amazed by the spin that Mahesh' forehand generates on the ball! Couple it with his amazing first serve which is a flat and fast one! Let me not talk about myself! Outrageous! Blasphemous, it would be to talk about myself here! Opponents have to just wait and see what Mohan can do! He he he! :D
Embrace the technology for the tournament!
The Doubles' Tournament is HAPPENING now! Literally! :-) Group A has a few tough teams which are sweating out to march towards the quarters, while Group B has finished all the matches and the teams are done! I and my partner, Mahesh, finally made it to the quarters winning just one match :-)
Yesterday, I was thinking of an effective approach to make the matches' information available to the players and other stakeholders (whoever are they! :-) ). The motivation for this thought was a moment when some of the players wanted to know the answers to the following questions:
(a) Who are my opponents in the next match?
(b) Where do we stand in our group?
(c) How many matches are yet to be played in my group?
(d) How is the other group faring off?
The papers and the data that Murugan was tracking was not enough to answer these and other questions! So, I decided to enter the fray and help a lending hand to him, of course the technology way. :-)
Once this thought arose in my mind, there were a few options for me: (1) Maintain all the data on the tracking sheets and help answering the players' questions. (2) Post the latest data in the web so as to make it available for any player, any time. Option (1) was obviously to be trashed since it would necessitate multiple copies of the sheets to be maintained - one by me, one by Murugan, etc. Also, the players need to call either Murugan or me to find out the latest information. So, I zeroed-in on the option (2) to embrace the technology to make players information-literate! :-)
Thus, the next question was regarding the location of posting: a blog or online scoring/schedule sheets or website. I don't want my blog to be cluttered with the tournament data! And, to manage the online sheets is a pain since as of now the players are not connected in the web either through networking groups or emails! (This is another thing in my agenda to work on! More on this later! :-) ) Finally, I decided to create a website!
Phew! Website! For just the tournament? Or, for the academy? Hmm. I thought it would be a good start to create one for the academy and manage the tournament data within that since this approach would be scalable in future. Otherwise, I need to create a separate website for each of the tournaments! :-)
Ok. Finally, a website for academy! WoW! I searched the web for a free web hosting services and found 50Webs.com and freeshell.in as the viable candidates. But, the former requires no easy way to upload the content, while the latter makes life difficult by forcing me to talk to its administrator first just to create a website! I again came back to Google Page Creator where I had already a sample website of my own! It took just an hour and half to create one for the academy! And here it is: http://truebounceacademy.googlepages.com. I had posted all the latest information to this space. Though this space does not have the Web 2.0 features, it does serve well my requirements! Murugan was quite surprised at this turn of the event! :-)
Next step is to make all the members connected with one another either through a group or a Wiki or a better Web 2.0-enabled web site! They should be able to make comments, edit the content and send notifications to one another on some events!
Yesterday, I was thinking of an effective approach to make the matches' information available to the players and other stakeholders (whoever are they! :-) ). The motivation for this thought was a moment when some of the players wanted to know the answers to the following questions:
(a) Who are my opponents in the next match?
(b) Where do we stand in our group?
(c) How many matches are yet to be played in my group?
(d) How is the other group faring off?
The papers and the data that Murugan was tracking was not enough to answer these and other questions! So, I decided to enter the fray and help a lending hand to him, of course the technology way. :-)
Once this thought arose in my mind, there were a few options for me: (1) Maintain all the data on the tracking sheets and help answering the players' questions. (2) Post the latest data in the web so as to make it available for any player, any time. Option (1) was obviously to be trashed since it would necessitate multiple copies of the sheets to be maintained - one by me, one by Murugan, etc. Also, the players need to call either Murugan or me to find out the latest information. So, I zeroed-in on the option (2) to embrace the technology to make players information-literate! :-)
Thus, the next question was regarding the location of posting: a blog or online scoring/schedule sheets or website. I don't want my blog to be cluttered with the tournament data! And, to manage the online sheets is a pain since as of now the players are not connected in the web either through networking groups or emails! (This is another thing in my agenda to work on! More on this later! :-) ) Finally, I decided to create a website!
Phew! Website! For just the tournament? Or, for the academy? Hmm. I thought it would be a good start to create one for the academy and manage the tournament data within that since this approach would be scalable in future. Otherwise, I need to create a separate website for each of the tournaments! :-)
Ok. Finally, a website for academy! WoW! I searched the web for a free web hosting services and found 50Webs.com and freeshell.in as the viable candidates. But, the former requires no easy way to upload the content, while the latter makes life difficult by forcing me to talk to its administrator first just to create a website! I again came back to Google Page Creator where I had already a sample website of my own! It took just an hour and half to create one for the academy! And here it is: http://truebounceacademy.googlepages.com. I had posted all the latest information to this space. Though this space does not have the Web 2.0 features, it does serve well my requirements! Murugan was quite surprised at this turn of the event! :-)
Next step is to make all the members connected with one another either through a group or a Wiki or a better Web 2.0-enabled web site! They should be able to make comments, edit the content and send notifications to one another on some events!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Doubles' Tournament.
A festive and fanfare atmosphere prevailed when the hands of the members of the True Bounce Tennis Academy clapped on the eve of the much awaited Doubles' Tournament in the Bangalore Games and Fitness Institute (BGFI) on Sunday, June 17th. Banners were erected, the courts were beautifully done and the paraphernalia of the game were made available on time, thanks to Murugan.
Though the draws were made on Friday morning, very few players were available for the matches to start on Saturday. Thus, the matches were started on Sunday.
The following are the teams:
Group A
A1 - Abhshek and Satish
A2 - Praveen and Prem
A3 - Gopal and Harveen
A4 - Jeffrey and Nithin
A5 - Aravind and Dr.Balliga
A6 - Neel and Suyog
Group B
B1 - Mitra and Vigyan
B2 - Sagar and Srinivas
B3 - Jagdeep and Sanjay
B4 - Mahesh and Mohan
B5 - Ben and Narendra
B6 - Hari and Tilak
Though the matches were organized on the first day with all the players being extremely cooperative, I was extremely disappointed at the chaotic mechanism of tracking the results, let alone the match scores. The results were so tracked that at any given point of time, one could not get the glimpse of the matches completed and the overall points tally of the different teams. So,I started thinking the best way to do this and finally recommended Murugan the format that I liked most. :-)
Also, currently, there is no mechanism by which one can know the detailed statistics of a given match, for instance, number of aces, unforced errors(long), etc. I am thinking on this too and suggest Murugan the best possible format to record these statistics at least for the semi-final and final matches. These detailed data would serve as some good measure of the team's abilities and skills. My vision is to have a web-based resource to gather all these information and allow the user to see the glimpse of the matches and also a drill-down views of them depicting all the detailed statistics of the individual matches. The time constraints for this year's tournament, I think, would not allow me to implement all my thoughts. Nonetheless, I would suggest Murugan the more user-friendly and effective way of managing the matches' information from next year, the technology way! :-)
Though the draws were made on Friday morning, very few players were available for the matches to start on Saturday. Thus, the matches were started on Sunday.
The following are the teams:
Group A
A1 - Abhshek and Satish
A2 - Praveen and Prem
A3 - Gopal and Harveen
A4 - Jeffrey and Nithin
A5 - Aravind and Dr.Balliga
A6 - Neel and Suyog
Group B
B1 - Mitra and Vigyan
B2 - Sagar and Srinivas
B3 - Jagdeep and Sanjay
B4 - Mahesh and Mohan
B5 - Ben and Narendra
B6 - Hari and Tilak
Though the matches were organized on the first day with all the players being extremely cooperative, I was extremely disappointed at the chaotic mechanism of tracking the results, let alone the match scores. The results were so tracked that at any given point of time, one could not get the glimpse of the matches completed and the overall points tally of the different teams. So,I started thinking the best way to do this and finally recommended Murugan the format that I liked most. :-)
Also, currently, there is no mechanism by which one can know the detailed statistics of a given match, for instance, number of aces, unforced errors(long), etc. I am thinking on this too and suggest Murugan the best possible format to record these statistics at least for the semi-final and final matches. These detailed data would serve as some good measure of the team's abilities and skills. My vision is to have a web-based resource to gather all these information and allow the user to see the glimpse of the matches and also a drill-down views of them depicting all the detailed statistics of the individual matches. The time constraints for this year's tournament, I think, would not allow me to implement all my thoughts. Nonetheless, I would suggest Murugan the more user-friendly and effective way of managing the matches' information from next year, the technology way! :-)
Monday, June 11, 2007
I clapped, rejoiced and revered yesterday evening at the every point that the winner has made or the loser has not made in the True Bounce Academy's tennis tournament for Under-14. But, at the back of my mind, I knew that there were more to be mesmerized with the world's two top rankers fighting it all on the red clay of the Roland Garros! I returned home only to be disappointed to see the first set of the final in favor of Rafael Nadal a.k.a. Rafa.
It is a fact that Nadal is an indisputable champion on the clay. It is also a fact that Federer is an indisputable champion of the game. More than Nadal, for Federer it was not just another Grand Slam final; it was an instrument to create a record as only the third man in the game's history to clinch all Grand Slams in the open era at the same time. (It should be noted that Federer won Wimbledon four times, US Open three times and Australian Open too three times.) I like people breaking or creating the records in any field. Given in that context, Nadal is the Nemesis, for Federer Failed once again!
It is a widespread perception that Nadal is almost always unbeatable on clay. And this simple perception spread like a virus and reached Federer's mind too! Some of the channels for this spreading of this perception are the harping and reinforcing media and now, the enormous amounts of resources on the Web. I wonder whether this perception really intimidated Federer before he started playing the finals at the Roland Garros. Nowadays, the players are not insulated from the often-dangerous (mis)perceptions spreading channels!
Nonethelss, it was disheartening that Federer was an uncharacteristic error-prone player that evening and those errors proved costly to him. He was not in his best minds with his shoulders drooping after losing the first set. It was not because Nadal had played his best tennis that made him have the crown, it was because Federer had made more mistakes in the game. Finally, I feel now, Nadal did not win. Federer only lost! I wish you all the best of Fortunes for the next year, Roger!
It is a fact that Nadal is an indisputable champion on the clay. It is also a fact that Federer is an indisputable champion of the game. More than Nadal, for Federer it was not just another Grand Slam final; it was an instrument to create a record as only the third man in the game's history to clinch all Grand Slams in the open era at the same time. (It should be noted that Federer won Wimbledon four times, US Open three times and Australian Open too three times.) I like people breaking or creating the records in any field. Given in that context, Nadal is the Nemesis, for Federer Failed once again!
It is a widespread perception that Nadal is almost always unbeatable on clay. And this simple perception spread like a virus and reached Federer's mind too! Some of the channels for this spreading of this perception are the harping and reinforcing media and now, the enormous amounts of resources on the Web. I wonder whether this perception really intimidated Federer before he started playing the finals at the Roland Garros. Nowadays, the players are not insulated from the often-dangerous (mis)perceptions spreading channels!
Nonethelss, it was disheartening that Federer was an uncharacteristic error-prone player that evening and those errors proved costly to him. He was not in his best minds with his shoulders drooping after losing the first set. It was not because Nadal had played his best tennis that made him have the crown, it was because Federer had made more mistakes in the game. Finally, I feel now, Nadal did not win. Federer only lost! I wish you all the best of Fortunes for the next year, Roger!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Topspin.
I have found an excellent video on the technique of forehand topspin. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GxYqIyyeW4
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Wars People Fight!
It is disheartening to see that the otherwise well-mannered and educated seeing each other's eyes on the courts for some reasons which cannot more aptly described as trivial and preposterous! Sports have always been associated with the emotional outbursts and it can be agreed if the losers blame the rules and the winners poke the losers after the game! But, it cannot be a good fun to see people involve themselves in petty quarrels effecting in a considerable break in their personal relationships!
Recently, I was the direct witness of such an awkward situation. A (name withheld for obvious reasons!) and B teamed up together to play against me and C. After three games in the first set of doubles, when the set was 3-3, A suddenly tossed the balls out of the court and walked away citing B's on-court behavior as the reason! I and C inquired on the sidelines on what had transpired. A had complained that B most of the times passes on the comments on A's game and A could not tolerate that!
On-court chemistry is a vital ingredient in the doubles game of any sport, more so in tennis, given its need for more skills in the game. Passing on some comments on selecting and hitting the shots, placement of the shots, positions of the partner, is not an uncommon phenomenon in the doubles game. Nevertheless, the conversations and the feedback process should not carry a facade of high-handedness in the game, lest the off-court chemistry too should become history soon!
I had found no fault with either A or B. B had no intentions to hurt A's feelings at all, and he readily apologized after this mild altercation. But, A, who has been a gentle and soft-spoken person could not tolerate the on-court comments on the spot by his partner. Probably, A should have taken B's sensitiveness and told him off-court about the game. And, of course, if Murugan were there, the situation would have been different than it had been. How different it was, I keep you guessing there! :-)
Recently, I was the direct witness of such an awkward situation. A (name withheld for obvious reasons!) and B teamed up together to play against me and C. After three games in the first set of doubles, when the set was 3-3, A suddenly tossed the balls out of the court and walked away citing B's on-court behavior as the reason! I and C inquired on the sidelines on what had transpired. A had complained that B most of the times passes on the comments on A's game and A could not tolerate that!
On-court chemistry is a vital ingredient in the doubles game of any sport, more so in tennis, given its need for more skills in the game. Passing on some comments on selecting and hitting the shots, placement of the shots, positions of the partner, is not an uncommon phenomenon in the doubles game. Nevertheless, the conversations and the feedback process should not carry a facade of high-handedness in the game, lest the off-court chemistry too should become history soon!
I had found no fault with either A or B. B had no intentions to hurt A's feelings at all, and he readily apologized after this mild altercation. But, A, who has been a gentle and soft-spoken person could not tolerate the on-court comments on the spot by his partner. Probably, A should have taken B's sensitiveness and told him off-court about the game. And, of course, if Murugan were there, the situation would have been different than it had been. How different it was, I keep you guessing there! :-)
Friday, May 4, 2007
Back in action again!
Having been averse to the summer crowds in the tennis courts, I declared a moratorium on myself for not playing tennis for a couple of days! Added to this, my left ankle was not completely cured and I was forced to hang up my racket for a while. Today, I tested myself for the readiness of the ankle with a few sit-ups and I felt much better! The impulse to play my swinging forehand live on the court took precedence on the self-imposed moratorium and finally I landed on the court at around 7 AM!
Murugan obviously was happy to see me back in action. Of course, he had his own reasons! (sic) :-)
Murugan obviously was happy to see me back in action. Of course, he had his own reasons! (sic) :-)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
This morning, I was feeling as if I was playing without any joy. I was just driving my arm in a forehand motion. Since Murugan was not present in the court (his father expired and he had to leave for Madurai yesterday at a short notice), there was a complete chaos on the courts! A kid was allowed to play on the court for rallies! (I really don't know who that kid was!) Hari, the assistant coach, and Ravi, one of the ball boys, were in confusion on how to manage the crowd on the courts.
When I landed on the courts around 7 AM, Prem and Girish (aka the Garrulous!) were involved in a religious singles match! On the other court, a doubles match was going on! I did some warm-up, as I do usually, on the sides of the first court and joined Hari for some rallies. Suddenly, this Infy guy (Sorry! I dont remember his name!) dropped down from nowhere and joined us! Then, Gopal. Then, Neel. Then, another person. Then Sagar. Then.... I thought it was time for me to leave! :-)
I am waiting Murugan to come and help me out of this chaos! :-)
PS: Federer was again beaten by Canas in the Miami Sony Ericsson Open! This was the second defeat of the Super Hero by Canas in less than two weeks! See Federer's comments on his defeat.
When I landed on the courts around 7 AM, Prem and Girish (aka the Garrulous!) were involved in a religious singles match! On the other court, a doubles match was going on! I did some warm-up, as I do usually, on the sides of the first court and joined Hari for some rallies. Suddenly, this Infy guy (Sorry! I dont remember his name!) dropped down from nowhere and joined us! Then, Gopal. Then, Neel. Then, another person. Then Sagar. Then.... I thought it was time for me to leave! :-)
I am waiting Murugan to come and help me out of this chaos! :-)
PS: Federer was again beaten by Canas in the Miami Sony Ericsson Open! This was the second defeat of the Super Hero by Canas in less than two weeks! See Federer's comments on his defeat.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Finally on the court!
Finally, I was on the court after a long gap of more than 5 weeks!
When I entered the court, I felt as if I had stepped into the warm layer of froth that was lost for long! Though I had played two games of doubles, it was like finding the lost love again! :-)
When I entered the court, I felt as if I had stepped into the warm layer of froth that was lost for long! Though I had played two games of doubles, it was like finding the lost love again! :-)
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Still still convalescing!
After a long break, I went today to play Tennis. After taking a couple of forehand feeds, I realized that it was too early to play before my ankle is completely cured! :-(
I paid the monthly fees to Murugan and returned home :-(
I paid the monthly fees to Murugan and returned home :-(
Monday, February 26, 2007
Still convalescing!
I still have the swelling in my left ankle which proscribed me from trying tennis. I am not sure how long can I convalesce like this! :-(
Monday, February 19, 2007
Missing tennis.
I had my left ankle twisted while fielding in a cricket practice session! :-( I had a minor swelling on that day, so I think I will not be able to play my tennis for the next week at least! :-(
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Some thoughts on better training.
A couple of months ago, Murugan, as a part of the weekly drills, took out the orange plastic cones that serve as the targets for the shots. A player has to hit a target placed in a specific area of the opponent's court. For instance, a target might be placed in the box behind the advantage service court, and when a ball is fed, a right-handed player must aim his forehand shot on the target.
Though targeting your shots in this way, is a nice and cleaner approach, in this process, no one tells you how you have improved over a period of time on your shot targets. A better scientific method might be allowing a player to hit 15 shots (or better 20 shots, the more might be an overkill, though!) on the target. The margin by which the target is missed (in case it is missed! :-)) should be measured for each hit and an average statistic can be recorded. Over a period, this measure needs to be tracked and gives a better idea on the overall improvement of the player's shots.
The same approach can be followed in the backhand-forehand drill for a player. Currently, a player gets around 10 - 20 balls (depends on the crowd :-)) for the backhand-forehand drill. One simple measure on the performance of the player might be the number of balls he hits over the net; another measure might be the number of hits in the singles court on the opponent's side; a measure that combines these two might be a still better option.
Of course, taking these scientific and organized training methods will not guarantee a player a better performance after a period of time. He needs to regularly take the drills and practice over time to even out the other factors that influence the performance such as the emotional and physical well-being! :-) Murugan! Are you game?! :-)
Though targeting your shots in this way, is a nice and cleaner approach, in this process, no one tells you how you have improved over a period of time on your shot targets. A better scientific method might be allowing a player to hit 15 shots (or better 20 shots, the more might be an overkill, though!) on the target. The margin by which the target is missed (in case it is missed! :-)) should be measured for each hit and an average statistic can be recorded. Over a period, this measure needs to be tracked and gives a better idea on the overall improvement of the player's shots.
The same approach can be followed in the backhand-forehand drill for a player. Currently, a player gets around 10 - 20 balls (depends on the crowd :-)) for the backhand-forehand drill. One simple measure on the performance of the player might be the number of balls he hits over the net; another measure might be the number of hits in the singles court on the opponent's side; a measure that combines these two might be a still better option.
Of course, taking these scientific and organized training methods will not guarantee a player a better performance after a period of time. He needs to regularly take the drills and practice over time to even out the other factors that influence the performance such as the emotional and physical well-being! :-) Murugan! Are you game?! :-)
Friday, February 9, 2007
Games players play!
When I joined the Hacienda club in mid-2004, there were around 10 players, among whom, on a given day, around 6 - 8 were regulars on the courts. On the weekdays, most of them play for one to one-and-half hours at the maximum before they leave for the day. Prominent among them were Pradeep Nair, Sarang, Thomas, Prem, Satish and myself. On the weekends, these players would extend the times of their plays and stick to the courts until 10 AM, after which the red courts would bear a deserted look!
Technically, Thomas, Prem and Pradeep were good players and still are :-) Satish and I are still learning of course :-) Sarang had lost his game to considerable extent and joins the B-group with us! :-)
Then, one fine day, a tempest had happened in the form of Gopal! First time, when I saw him in his complete tennis gear of tennis kit, sweat bands, sneakers, a tennis cap and other paraphernalia that includes his usual pack of cigarettes, I thought that probably one more new member had come to join us! Once he played with Murugan, I realized how potent his tennis was! Gopal's entry into the tennis club was a defining milestone! It not only shook the people out of the inertia that had been built up over the years, but also brought in new perspectives for every one; for, every one had a new target now for raising their level of playing! He came, He played, He vanquished! :-)
There were some aged players - probably aged more than 55 years - who might prefer playing doubles partnering with the same species! Some of them were biased to play against the different species, though! Fortunately, I have never been 'unnice' to any one on or off the court! :-)
But, over a period, many players hopped in and out of the True Bounce academy, in the sense, some come regularly, but daily; some regularly, but only weekends; some regularly irregular; some irregularly irregular! :-) Sandeep, Praveen, Jeffrey, Shivyog and some more fall into this category!
Later, it has been increasingly difficult for Murugan to manage the players time on the courts! One reason for this is that most of the players prefer to play in the prime time (7 AM to 8:30 AM). Keeping in mind that there are only two courts, eight players can play two doubles matches back-to-back on these two courts. But there are around 15 players who deliver their regular presence on the courts now! Add to this the C-group members, who need to be coached on one court completely! So, this restricts to allow the players to use only one court! Add to this the interesting political maneuvers players get involved into! (More on this later!) Phewww...... Of course, Murugan has been more or less managing to manage the players! :-) In this process, sometimes, some get unhappy, but not permanently, though. Lots of dynamics on and off the courts, and hats off to Murugan and the entire community of the players who keep the momentum and action alive!
Technically, Thomas, Prem and Pradeep were good players and still are :-) Satish and I are still learning of course :-) Sarang had lost his game to considerable extent and joins the B-group with us! :-)
Then, one fine day, a tempest had happened in the form of Gopal! First time, when I saw him in his complete tennis gear of tennis kit, sweat bands, sneakers, a tennis cap and other paraphernalia that includes his usual pack of cigarettes, I thought that probably one more new member had come to join us! Once he played with Murugan, I realized how potent his tennis was! Gopal's entry into the tennis club was a defining milestone! It not only shook the people out of the inertia that had been built up over the years, but also brought in new perspectives for every one; for, every one had a new target now for raising their level of playing! He came, He played, He vanquished! :-)
There were some aged players - probably aged more than 55 years - who might prefer playing doubles partnering with the same species! Some of them were biased to play against the different species, though! Fortunately, I have never been 'unnice' to any one on or off the court! :-)
But, over a period, many players hopped in and out of the True Bounce academy, in the sense, some come regularly, but daily; some regularly, but only weekends; some regularly irregular; some irregularly irregular! :-) Sandeep, Praveen, Jeffrey, Shivyog and some more fall into this category!
Later, it has been increasingly difficult for Murugan to manage the players time on the courts! One reason for this is that most of the players prefer to play in the prime time (7 AM to 8:30 AM). Keeping in mind that there are only two courts, eight players can play two doubles matches back-to-back on these two courts. But there are around 15 players who deliver their regular presence on the courts now! Add to this the C-group members, who need to be coached on one court completely! So, this restricts to allow the players to use only one court! Add to this the interesting political maneuvers players get involved into! (More on this later!) Phewww...... Of course, Murugan has been more or less managing to manage the players! :-) In this process, sometimes, some get unhappy, but not permanently, though. Lots of dynamics on and off the courts, and hats off to Murugan and the entire community of the players who keep the momentum and action alive!
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
New racquet!
After three days of waiting, I finally started playing with my new Wilson racquet today :-) I found initial strokes too vibrating until Murugan put the shock absorber to the strings. Later on, the play was smooth and the strokes wonderful! The power was amazing, all with the minimum effort! :-)
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Today, not many turned up for the tennis in the club. One reason might be the feared tension in the city in the wake of the Cauvery Tribunal's order yesterday. So, I got a chance to play a singles match against Nitin :-)
Last saturday, I bought a Wilson racquet from the Rakhra Agencies. I still need to get it from there since it needed to be regutted. The cost was around Rs.3000/-. :-)
Last saturday, I bought a Wilson racquet from the Rakhra Agencies. I still need to get it from there since it needed to be regutted. The cost was around Rs.3000/-. :-)
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
In the early July, 2004, I had a visit to the Hacienda club on a nice cool evening around 5 PM. Lot of activity could be seen on the tennis courts with some children playing, some running around the courts (probably some form of punishment from Shotgun Murugan!) and some simply sitting on the side walls and watching others! In the midst of this maze, I could find Murugan on the directions of a club reception's person. He approached me with a slightly tinted walk with the right shoulder drooping in with the every step.
After preliminary introductions he explained the dress code on the court and the academy rules such as the timings etc. He inquired about my brand new Prince racquet (I purchased it from the Rakhra Agencies, Cambridge Layout for around Rs.3800/-; Rakhra Agencies is in the junction marked as the red circle in the picture) and asked me start playing from the next day morning.
The next day, I reached the courts around 6 AM. Murugan asked me whether I had played tennis before for which I told him I had had played the game in college. He wanted to gauge my movements and techniques and fed some balls over the net from one end of the court. He advised me to change the strokes and suggested taking daily feeds of the balls to improve my movements, technique and stamina. It happened that day that I met Anna Basava aka Basavappa, a senior ball-boy on the courts! :-) He was the initial ball-feeder for me. (More about him in my later posts!)
Later on, with each day, I acquired unique experiences of the game both on and off the court - on, through weekly drills and training; off - by watching the experienced players :-)
Now, I could comfortably play my forehand and drops and slices and still working on improving the backhand. :-)
Watch my next post for the details on the players! :-)
Wanna play tennis at Hacienda? Here is the info!
After a break of complete 5 days, I played three doubles games today. Probably, because of the break, my backhand was not working well today and I began to slice the ball over the net. That too clicked sometimes and did not sometimes!
OK. Let me put some information here for those who are interested in playing tennis at Hacienda club.
The tennis courts, part of the club, are maintained and managed well by the trainer Murugan. He has his own academy, TrueBounce Tennis Academy. One needs to pay a certain amount per month to Murugan to play tennis. This amount is not included in the club membership fees (which is Rs. 6735/- for a family membership and Rs. 3800/- for a single membership per year). So, assuming that a single person wants to play tennis, he needs to shell out Rs.3800/- (club membership fees for an year) and around Rs. 1500/- (per month, for using tennis courts, balls and other maintenance). (This may sound a bit heavy, but it is still reasonable if you compare with the other clubs in the town.) Seniors (above 14 years old) need to play in the morning time (6:00 AM to 9:00 AM) and the evening time is allotted to the juniors.
This all also means that you would be a member of TrueBounce Tennis Academy too! Murugan who manages his academy, every year organizes doubles tournaments for seniors and singles tournaments for juniors. (Last year, we lost in the semi-finals in the doubles tournaments! :-))
A picture of the tennis courts here. And, yes they are clay courts! The balls are provided by the trainer and there are ball boys too to help the players.
In the next post, I will put my experiences when I joined the club to play tennis. :-) Watch out!
Monday, January 29, 2007
I have not played Tennis last weekend since I was busy shifting to another house. I miss it :-(
Meanwhile, I managed my time to add a few links to my delicious account. You too can access these wonderful resources on Tennis if you have an account with delicious. (If you don't have one, you can create one; it's free! For the starters, delicious is a social bookmarking site where you can post your bookmarks and share them with others out there in the world wide web! You can access their bookmarks too!)
I had woken up with my favorite news on Federer retaining the Australian Open title beating the crowd-favorite Gonzalez in straight sets. Go Roger, Go!
Meanwhile, I managed my time to add a few links to my delicious account. You too can access these wonderful resources on Tennis if you have an account with delicious. (If you don't have one, you can create one; it's free! For the starters, delicious is a social bookmarking site where you can post your bookmarks and share them with others out there in the world wide web! You can access their bookmarks too!)
I had woken up with my favorite news on Federer retaining the Australian Open title beating the crowd-favorite Gonzalez in straight sets. Go Roger, Go!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Welcome to my Tennis world!
I have been playing Tennis for more than two years now. My first love with this amazing sport happened in the first year of my Engineering in the late 80s. Guess who was my first teacher? The Big Wall in the Collector's Office of my town! :-)
I now regularly play Tennis at the Bangalore Games and Fitness Institute (earlier called Hacienda Club), Bangalore. (See the bluish area in the map which is the swimming pool and the clay courts beside that!) My blog will record my flirts with Tennis every day! Watch this space. :-)
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