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! :-)
Monday, June 18, 2007
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) :-)
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