Somdev vs Federer: A lesson for Indian tennis

Tennis has always been a sport where players with aggressive intent have done well and hence you see that Federer, who is naturally aggressive, has done so well for himself. The facts of yesterday’s match indicate that Somdev played 80% of his shots from beyond the baseline which instantly rules out chances of setting up an attacking position for him to dominate a point. Compare this with Federer’s 50% shots played from within the baseline and it shows why Federer dominates so many of his opponents! Where Nadal scores over the others is his amazing ability to hang in long enough during points that lets him convert (sometimes) from an utterly hopeless defensive position to supreme offense.

We, as a country, are traditionally not known to do well in sports where endurance plays a huge role. Tennis is one sport where you need to play at consistently high levels right throughout a match to have a chance of winning. This aspect becomes more important when we are competing at international events where fitness and skill levels are extremely high. The above has been written with the underlying assumption that a youngster has access to the best of facilities, sponsorships, etc.

If one were to look into the Wikipedia page of Somdev, it says that he beat John Isner (ranked 21 in the world currently) in the NCAA Singles Final during his university days. Most of our country folks show enormous potential during their teenage years but somehow drop off the radar as they get into the professional scene. Though the seeds were sown much earlier with the like of Paes, Bhupathi and Sania doing us proud at various stages, Somdev has shown the way for a lot of youngsters. And what can be better than playing against a legend like Roger in front of a capacity crowd and actually getting a few supporting chants from the crowd? Isn’t it truly a matter of pride that one of our very own has competed against such a legend of the game in a Grand Slam? That must be inspiration enough for all the budding tennis players in the country to take up the sport, and perhaps we will see a lot more of our countrymen in the main draws of Grand Slams in the future.