How did Indians fare in 2013 - Part 2

For part 1, click here: Indian tennis in 2013

4. SOMDEV DEVVARMAN BACK WITH THE BEST

Somdev and Djokovic after their third round encounter at Miami.

It would is the last thing any tennis player would want. Yet, injuries never cease to attack them. Somdev’s career, after a late start, finally seemed to mature during the 2011 season. Unfortunately, he developed a shoulder injury and could not play for a major part of the next season. Though he returned for the Olympics, he was all too weak to make any impact. As a consequence, he has spent another entire year to climb back to where he definitely belongs- the top 100.

Having started the season with a win at the Chennai Open, he made steady progress with decent wins at many tour events.He consistently won at least the initial rounds while using his protected ranking to play ATP events. Ranking among his good performances are his matches against Jerzy Janowicz of Poland and Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open and Miami Masters. Though he failed to win either, he definitely showed that he was back to fitness. The former was an intriguing match which kept many Indians transfixed to the television screens during the early hours of the day to watch him battle against the dramatic Pole in 5 tight sets.

As the luxury of using protected ranking ended by the beginning of the clay court season, he started playing at Challenger events as his ranking was inadequate to make the cut-offs at tour events. His rank had risen to 205 by mid april from 664 at the beginning of the year owing to his good results at the events during the interregnum period. Though he played many challenger events, eight in all, throughout the rest of the year, he somehow failed to make it past the semifinals at any of them. After winning initial matches with ease, he would dramatically fail in the end stages.

He was placed in the qualifying draws of the succeeding three slams. He made smooth entries into the main draws of the French and US Opens while he failed in the very first round at Roehampton to eventual qualifier Matt Reid of Australia 16-18 in the third set. It was after the US Open that he finally found his way back to the top 100 (ranked 89 currently)

Post Wimbledon, he created an upset at the Citi Open where he entered as a qualifier and defeated defending Champion Alexander Dolgopolov before falling to John Isner. His match against Isner was very closely watched by many as it was their first meeting since Devvarman’s win at the NCAA finals during college years. He played his final tournament of the year at Charlottesville where he currently resides.

He also made a silent progress in the doubles field with a few creditable wins with different partners including a title at the Sarasota challenger with Ilija Bozoljac.

His next season will be watched with keen interest and he is expected to progress further in terms of rankings and performance. He will also play for India at the Davis Cup and Asian Games in all likelihood. A better season with better results is surely possible given that he has secured a place in the top 100.

3. BOPANNA PEAKS AT NO.3

Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin with their Japan Open trophy

Rohan Bopanna started the year at no.12 as the third highest ranked Indian after Leander Paes at no.3 and Mahesh Bhupathi at no.4. He decided to part with Bhupathi and pair with American Rajeev Ram. The duo started the year on a bad note losing in the quarterfinals of the Chennai Open. In their successive tournaments, they failed to make an impact and prior to the clay court season, they decided to part ways and the Bopanna Bhupathi pair reemerged.

The first half of the season was chaotic and not very satisfying for any of the Indians including Bopanna.

Wimbledon brought in a change of fortune for this player from Coorg. Seeded fourteenth and playing for the very first time, Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, reached the semifinals, Bopanna’s first at the Championships, notching wins over many higher ranked opponents. This saw him rise to a career high ranking of world no.3 and also become the highest ranked Indian for the first time in his career overtaking the legends Paes and Bhupathi. They revived their partnership at Cincinnati and continued for the rest of the season.

The duo won their first title together at the Tokyo 500 tournament and moved closer to clinching a spot in the ATP finals.

Like all other Indians. the second half of his season has been very fruitful. From reaching the Wimbledon semi final to almost qualifying for the WTFs, the duo have performed really well. It is really sad that they will not be back next season. Bopanna, though, elated many by announcing his reunion with former partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

2. SANIA MIRZA- ALWAYS THE GOLDEN GIRL

Sania Mirza and Cara Black

Sania Mirza started the year with a bang, winning the first Premier tournament of the year at Brisbane with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Joy escalated and so did expectations. After opening their year with a title, they failed to post a win in the year’s first Grand Slam. This disappointment was soon allayed by their second title at Dubai and a runner-up finish at Stuttgart, both Premier level tournaments. The next slam saw them retiring in the third set during their third round match. Apparently Mattek-Sands had injured herself and decided to play just singles for the rest of the year.

This made Sania pair up with Liezel Huber during the Wimbledon Championships and a preceding tournament. They had earlier won titles together during the nascent stages of Sania’s career. Their partnership, however, did not succeed this time. They fell in the third round of The Championships. This was followed by her partnering China’s Zheng Jie. They won a Premier level tournament just prior to the US Open, Sania’s third in the year. Every time she won a tournament before a Grand Slam, she has failed to succeed at the Slam. This again made fans a little uncomfortable. Yet, the Indo-Chinese pair reached the semifinals of the US Open, Sania’s first. It seemed as though Sania had found the right partner and that their chemistry worked even better than that of Mirza and Mattek-Sands.

But, she dismissed such notions with her performances towards the end of the season. Sania paired up with veteran Cara Black for the Toray Pacific Premier 5 tournament in Tokyo. It was their first ever together. Yet, their results seemed to disagree. They notched wins over higher ranked pairs and won the tournament. This was then followed by another fine run at the Beijing Premier Mandatory event where, again, they emerged victors. Even after their first title, they were dubbed as the next big thing in Women’s Doubles by many. Their second title, with a win over world no.1 pair Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the semifinals substantiated the guess of many.

This has also been the most successful year for Sania with 5 titles and a career-high year end ranking of 9. She also finished the year ranked 12th, 14th, and 17th with Mattek-Sands, Jie and Black respectively.

Luckily for Sania, she has at last found a full time doubles partner and a partner who compliments her game in every aspect on court. Her game is now getting better by the day with waxing injuries and Black brings with her oodles of experience and a handful of slams. It has also been announced that Cara Black will be flying to India in December to practice with her new partner. If their initial success is anything to go by, a highly entertaining year is what Indian fans can look forward to. With her renewed form, higher confidence and an excellent partner, her dream of laying her hands on a few more slams, especially in Women’s Doubles, will likely come true.

After a decent first half, her game seemed to raise to come up with wonderful performances. She seems to have gained her normal game. With Cara Black, she can finally win a slam. Yes, she has finally risen with a top 10 finish to the year, a good partner and an improving game.

1. PAES SLAMS AGE

Leander Paes celebrates after his US Open triumph

After spending more than two decades as a professional tennis player and reaching the age of 40, Leander has proven that he still has the fire to win a slam. With the fire still glowing, he is surely not done with tennis. His on court performances have accentuated this for sometime now and further substantiating them were his verbal assurances that he would play at 41, 42, 43…… and his desire to play at Rio in 2016.

Though he has his differences with some of his compatriots, his performances during the initial stages of the year were in no way better than theirs. After Regular partner Radek Stepanek stopped playing owing to injuries, he found the going hard. He played with Jurgen Melzer, Michael Llodra and others. Yet, his performances were very mediocre.

Starting with their reunion just before Wimbledon, Paes and Stepanek started playing well together. They made it to the semifinals of Wimbledon.

Just before the US Open, Paes and Nestor won the ATP 250 title at Winston-Salem. This was Paes’ first title of the year.The very next week, he teamed up with Stepanek to win the US Open title. It was no ordinary win. They defeated the top seeded Bryan brothers in the semifinals. The twins were aiming to win all the four slams in the same year. But, the Indo-Czech duo put an end to their dream run. What ensued is just history. At 40, Leander Paes became the oldest male player to win a Grand Slam. Though they succeeded in recreating their magic, they did not play together for the rest of the year till the World Tour Finals.

Paes played at Malaysia with Italian Daniele Bracciali and the subsequent tournaments again with Daniel Nestor. Stepanek started concentrating more on singles tournaments during this period and it raises a question whether they will be playing together next year.

Though he has enjoyed success with Nestor and they seemed to be gearing up for a full time partnership next season, Nestor is reported to have agreed to joining forces with Nenad Zimonjic. Paes has not made any announcement uptil now regarding his partner for the next year though it might continue to be Radek Stepanek.