Arjuna Awardee, seven-time National champion and doubles specialist Gaurav Natekar has, since his professional retirement, chosen to focus on the development of the sport in the country.
Once India’s top-ranked tennis player, Natekar is now involved full-time with the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academies, a longtime dream of their eponymous12-time Grand Slam winning founder.
Bhupathi founded the academies in 2006 to train youngsters in a sport he has brought immense laurels to the country with, and CEO Natekar has been the spearhead beind the organisation ever since.
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He spoke to Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview about the state of the game in India, about tennis’ greatest and more:
There has been contention over what age children should start playing sports; as the head of MBTA, what is your take on the subject?
Children should start playing as early as possible. Not only is it very essential to keep them active, there’s a very specific type of coordination that can develop only through sports. It’s extremely worrying that India is the world capital for cardiovascular disease, and we’re quickly becoming the world’s obesity capital.
There’s a study by the WHO (the World Health Organisation) that says thirty percent of Indian children between the ages of 5 and 9 are overweight. Children should play as many sports as they possibly can, at least until they are 11 or 12 years old. By then, s/he is old enough to decide the sport their heart lies with, the sport they want to pursue. Of course, there are parents who push their kids into tennis when the child does not want to.
Taking tennis seriously in India
Less often, but it does happen, the child wants to pursue a sporting career, but the parent is against it because the traditional mindset of not believing sports is a career still persists. Back when I was on the team (Natekar was part of India’s Davis Cup squad for five years, with the team even reaching the semi-finals of the tournament in 1993) people would ask me what I did for a living.
I told them I was a tennis player, and they would respond with “yeah, but what do you do?” Back then, it was still not believed that someone could pursue sports full-time, make a go of it, be successful at it. Cricket changed that perception, and with Mahesh and Leander’s immense tennis talent, tennis began being noticed.
That success was another factor in helping India notice other sports. Yes, we are obsessed with cricket. And that obsession maybe won’t go away in the next 5 years, ten years, maybe the next two decades. But what is important is people are noticing, and following, other sports in the country; it’s not just a one-sport nation in the eyes of the public. After them, Sania has had immense success.
Leagues have been extremely helpful here, too. They have brought much-needed attention to the sport. It’s definitely helped wean the public off that single-minded cricket obsession to a degree.
Sports are now under the CSR line too (Corporate Social Responsibility), so this has brought some money into other sports, too. It’s essential that this happens – sports that are seriously lacking in funding receive a boost, as HCL have done in association with us.
HCL and Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academies recently hosted the second edition of the HCL Inter-School Tennis Challenge in Chennai, which saw children from over 50 schools in the Tamil Nadu capital, among them some of its most prominent.
We also wanted to do things for tennis at the grassroots, something that has been sorely lacking. We began mini-tennis and progressive tennis, to help gradually develop these young players’ talents.
It’s also very important to ensure this is cost-effective for young players, many of whom cannot afford to play. For 300, they have access to training spaces, equipments, racquets and coaching.
There are so many things I could tell you about that are essential to promote the sport here.
We need well-structured programs, residential, immersive camps that are also not expensive. Cost is a major hindrance to many looking to pursue tennis, and that has also given the sport somewhat of an elitist tag, one that is a genuine worry.
Lots of talented tennis players end up having to drop out of the sport worrying about costs, and it is a very realistic problem. They keep having to think about sponsorships, about the ability to continue in the sport, and MBTA are trying to combat this as well.
There are fewer barriers than there were 20 years ago, and the mindset to sports has changed. There is no denying there is a way to go, but those barirers have decreased significantly since.
We’re pursuing the SMILE project in Kerala, a public-private partnership with the state government, and it is being run in three schools in Thiruvananthapuram. We saw 1800 kids join the tournament straightaway, and within two years these children are winning state level tournaments.
These children had never even heard of tennis before. They did not even have sandals before, let alone tennis shoes. It goes to show how much talent is waiting to be worked on.
As the support from the state government has been waning, and there have been attempts to shut it down, we are looking to move towards CSR initiatives that could support us long-term. It’s important for the sport, these children and their talent.
There has definitely been a good response to increasing the scope of tennis in the country.
In our pilot project with HCL, we started an inter-school challenge in tennis in Delhi, with the boys and girls’ under 12s, two singles and one doubles. Kids at that age don’t get any tournaments, so we made not only tennis teams but cheering teams to help inculcate a sporting attitude, the idea of team spirit.
That will not only stand them in good stead in sports, but in their life in and out of schoo as well. There were over 700 schools involved then.
There has been good feedback from tennis-playing children and academies, and I think we and the sport can do even better in India.
And there are some big names.
On India‘s tennis stars
Tennis has taken off in relatively recent years, having really gained prominence after the Lee-Hesh partnership. And Sania Mirza has been brilliant in recent years, and their Grand Slam success has made people take proper notice of tennis.
But we had Vijay Amritraj, who was India’s best in the past, but went relatively unnoticed in comparison to Paes, Bhupathi and Mirza
Yes, but the exposure then was not as big, and Lee-Hesh really burst onto the tennis scene and stayed there. We’ve had doubles success right from then to now, and they're winning Slams left, right and center.
We have Rohan Bopanna who is doing brilliant things.
But there has been a focus on the doubles. India has not had much singles success, even though we have a good understanding of the game, there aren’t singles laurels.
The singles tour is far more brutal, far more taxing on the body than the doubles. You also have only half the court coverage required in the doubles, so players have tended to stick to doubles rather than singles.
There is singles talent, but no focus on the singles – and perhaps that is discouraging players, or not bringing it to as much notice, so even if there are players, it’s hard to find an idol to look up to in the country.
We have talent, and can’t blame any specific organisations for the lack of promotion. But we need also to pay attention to singles in addition to promoting doubles. There’s a new generation of Indian players who definitely have the talent to succeed. They will always be there, they just need to be encouraged.
On tennis’ Big Four and the future
That inevitable question – do you think Federer can win another Grand Slam?
Everyone’s asking that question, and to be honest, by Federer’s standards, he has not had a great year. He did everything, gave it his all, really, it was just Djokovic who stood in the way – not just Federer’s but everyone’s. Despite the injuries, though, I think he could win another Slam. It looks difficult with Djokovic’s form, and perhaps a marginal stretch, but he could do it.
Honestly, though, I do not see anyone challenging Djokovic for at least the next 6-12 months.
There are so many other big players on the ATP tour that I think have immense potential, but never lived up to it. Gael Monfils is immensely talented, but lacks the mental tenacity to win a slam.
What do you think of Nick Kyrgios and his bad-boy antics?
I think colourful personalities are fun, important in every sport. That said, I think he has crossed that line, a line that should never be breached. There is having a personality, and then there is disgracing and degrading your rival, which has no business on the tennis court. The ‘bad boys' have always had more attention – people always watched Agassi over Sampras, McEnroe over Borg, because they provided that extra ‘excitement’ on court.
But it’s important for personality on court to be tempered by mutual respect.
And as for Rafa...
We’re also associated with the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academies; I interacted with his uncle Toni (who is Nadal’s longterm coach) over a time.
Many people have called for Nadal to change coaches; when Toni was asked he said “You’ll have to ask Rafa, I think I am cheap for him!”
As for switching coaches, I’m not entirely sure that will happen. Nadal is deep-rooted in his culture and values, and family is extremely important. So even if there is a need to change coaches, that might not necessarily happen.
A lot of Nadal’s issues, I think, are mental. Earlier, he was invincible to his rivals; now, they know they could outlast him, outplay him, and that has affected him too.
