The Cricket Spirit in Tennis
This piece isn’t about cricket. The word ‘cricket’ is not part of my usual vocabulary and the probability of finding it in my writing is low, if not very low. This piece is about tennis. What does one have to do with the other? I was surprised to find out last Sunday when I set out to catch the Women’s singles final of the Bangalore Open 2008. While I’m not a tennis aficionado, I do enjoy the game, having ‘technically’ played it while at school. It would be prudent of me to call out here that many, especially some former schoolmates, would disagree whether the skill displayed could be called ‘playing tennis’.
So, when my dance classmate, Asha suggested we go, I jumped at the chance. I hadn’t watched an international tennis match for atleast 4 years and I was excited to watch the top seeded internationally acclaimed Williams sisters clash at the final. Only later [but thankfully well before the day of the match], I learnt that Venus was out of the running and it was going to be Serena Williams Vs. Patty Schnyder, the latter being a player who had received surprizingly huge PR coverage from the minute she landed in Bangalore. That is to basically say I knew who she was.
Asha and I got there early at 4.30 pm to catch some 'good' places at the D stand of the KSLTA courts. We needn’t have bothered. It was the section right near the main court where the match was to take place and most places were available and ‘good’. Which meant we could clearly watch the Chinese players practising their game. Plus I carried my parents' famous mini-Russian binoculars, ideal for such settings. The crowd was of a decent size, compared to all those “unmarked seating” events like music shows and matches of other sports where a good seat is by no means unavailable unless one comes hours early.
It was equally peppered with both Indians and foreigners but as the match hour of 6 pm drew close, the crowd grew substantially. The almost reverse Wimbledon colours lent a cheery spirit to the courts and when Serena and Patty made their appearance on the courts, the loud shout that accompanied them made us realize that the stadium was packed. There were avid supporters of both players, complete with their posters, flags and all the paraphernalia that goes with cheering.
To folks who enjoy tennis like us, it was a pleasure to see such a huge audience for tennis and a noise level that supported it. Relevant since currently in India, cricket eclipses all other sports and encompasses the share of voice and mind of people and media in such a way that there is just no thought for any other game. Hearing and seeing everyone so caught up in the spirit of tennis was heartwarming to say the least, especially since I don’t care much for cricket. I personally think that the frenzy and mindless obsession that accompanies every cricket match, irrespective of level or standing, is such a waste of time ...the IPL auctions of staggering amounts and its possible impact is entirely another chapter. But that is my personal opinion and really, a tirade against cricket is an even bigger waste of time.
Back to the courts, the game commenced and soon we were following the champs in action. The strength of Serena was clearly visible and her game was marked by her power-packed serves, her grunting, her ability to race to any part of the court and play her return shot, her anger and frustration at her almost constant giving away of points through her net shots. All this is contrast to a cooler Patty – her leaner frame fighting the power sent her way with a seeming ease, surprising Serena with her shots and making her struggle in the first set.
During the breaks, we engaged in the usual stuff we tennis types do – chatting with neighbours on the play, chanting those pro-player slogans, posing for the TV cameras, focusing on the page 3 folks in the players box [the entire Williams clan, esp Venus’ elaborate pendant, Poppy Williams scribbling away and clicking away alternately, Kiran Mazumdar, etc…all details thanks to my binocs], commenting on the players’ outfits and ofcourse, checking out the crowd and chatting non-stop.
Somewhere in the middle of the game, the crowd began shouting – a cricketer, Sreesanth had been apparently spotted. Focus went back to the tennis players thankfully. Post that, during the breaks, Sreesanth waved to the wildly cheering crowd. The kids hovering around him for autographs continued well beyond the breaks, much to the chagrin of a lot of spectators. He got up to leave, well before the match ended which seemed to indicate that his presence there was some publicity exercise and not prompted by the love of the game.
To the surprize of many, just before Sreesanth left, during a break in the crucial 2nd set, the commentator began interviewing him. Apart from his comments on the ongoing match, his views on the previous/ upcoming cricket matches were sought against the background of the loudly cheering crowd. The players who had their backs to the action, so anxious with aspects of their play and the way the match was going, didn’t turn back once to see what the hullabaloo was all about. Whether or not the players raised their objections about this mid-match disruption, cricket in the midst of tennis was in such bad taste – ironic in the face of the pure tennis euphoria we had experienced before. Asking questions from someone who didn’t even stay the entire game was one thing. Asking questions on cricket was another. Next, we use breaks as a PR moment to ask celebrities some questions – "Ms Shaw , what's the latest breakthrough in bio-technology", "Mr SM Krishna, your election strategy for the Congress?", some model his latest assignment, etc. What made it worse was that it was not before the match but during the match, albeit in the 1 minute break.
The racy game brought us all back to the core of the sport. It was overall a great match and Serena won the title. Vijay Amritraj’s words at the prize giving ceremony had the crowd rooting for both players. The entire experience was somewhat dulled by the cricket fiasco in the middle. It’s not as though cricket didn’t outshadow every other sport in India in real life, now we also have to live with the ghost of cricket stepping into tennis territory. And that, my friends, is the spirit of cricket! In tennis. Only in India. Love it or hate it, one jus can’t deny it.
This piece isn’t about cricket. The word ‘cricket’ is not part of my usual vocabulary and the probability of finding it in my writing is low, if not very low. This piece is about tennis. What does one have to do with the other? I was surprised to find out last Sunday when I set out to catch the Women’s singles final of the Bangalore Open 2008. While I’m not a tennis aficionado, I do enjoy the game, having ‘technically’ played it while at school. It would be prudent of me to call out here that many, especially some former schoolmates, would disagree whether the skill displayed could be called ‘playing tennis’.
So, when my dance classmate, Asha suggested we go, I jumped at the chance. I hadn’t watched an international tennis match for atleast 4 years and I was excited to watch the top seeded internationally acclaimed Williams sisters clash at the final. Only later [but thankfully well before the day of the match], I learnt that Venus was out of the running and it was going to be Serena Williams Vs. Patty Schnyder, the latter being a player who had received surprizingly huge PR coverage from the minute she landed in Bangalore. That is to basically say I knew who she was.
Asha and I got there early at 4.30 pm to catch some 'good' places at the D stand of the KSLTA courts. We needn’t have bothered. It was the section right near the main court where the match was to take place and most places were available and ‘good’. Which meant we could clearly watch the Chinese players practising their game. Plus I carried my parents' famous mini-Russian binoculars, ideal for such settings. The crowd was of a decent size, compared to all those “unmarked seating” events like music shows and matches of other sports where a good seat is by no means unavailable unless one comes hours early.
It was equally peppered with both Indians and foreigners but as the match hour of 6 pm drew close, the crowd grew substantially. The almost reverse Wimbledon colours lent a cheery spirit to the courts and when Serena and Patty made their appearance on the courts, the loud shout that accompanied them made us realize that the stadium was packed. There were avid supporters of both players, complete with their posters, flags and all the paraphernalia that goes with cheering.
To folks who enjoy tennis like us, it was a pleasure to see such a huge audience for tennis and a noise level that supported it. Relevant since currently in India, cricket eclipses all other sports and encompasses the share of voice and mind of people and media in such a way that there is just no thought for any other game. Hearing and seeing everyone so caught up in the spirit of tennis was heartwarming to say the least, especially since I don’t care much for cricket. I personally think that the frenzy and mindless obsession that accompanies every cricket match, irrespective of level or standing, is such a waste of time ...the IPL auctions of staggering amounts and its possible impact is entirely another chapter. But that is my personal opinion and really, a tirade against cricket is an even bigger waste of time.
Back to the courts, the game commenced and soon we were following the champs in action. The strength of Serena was clearly visible and her game was marked by her power-packed serves, her grunting, her ability to race to any part of the court and play her return shot, her anger and frustration at her almost constant giving away of points through her net shots. All this is contrast to a cooler Patty – her leaner frame fighting the power sent her way with a seeming ease, surprising Serena with her shots and making her struggle in the first set.
During the breaks, we engaged in the usual stuff we tennis types do – chatting with neighbours on the play, chanting those pro-player slogans, posing for the TV cameras, focusing on the page 3 folks in the players box [the entire Williams clan, esp Venus’ elaborate pendant, Poppy Williams scribbling away and clicking away alternately, Kiran Mazumdar, etc…all details thanks to my binocs], commenting on the players’ outfits and ofcourse, checking out the crowd and chatting non-stop.
Somewhere in the middle of the game, the crowd began shouting – a cricketer, Sreesanth had been apparently spotted. Focus went back to the tennis players thankfully. Post that, during the breaks, Sreesanth waved to the wildly cheering crowd. The kids hovering around him for autographs continued well beyond the breaks, much to the chagrin of a lot of spectators. He got up to leave, well before the match ended which seemed to indicate that his presence there was some publicity exercise and not prompted by the love of the game.
To the surprize of many, just before Sreesanth left, during a break in the crucial 2nd set, the commentator began interviewing him. Apart from his comments on the ongoing match, his views on the previous/ upcoming cricket matches were sought against the background of the loudly cheering crowd. The players who had their backs to the action, so anxious with aspects of their play and the way the match was going, didn’t turn back once to see what the hullabaloo was all about. Whether or not the players raised their objections about this mid-match disruption, cricket in the midst of tennis was in such bad taste – ironic in the face of the pure tennis euphoria we had experienced before. Asking questions from someone who didn’t even stay the entire game was one thing. Asking questions on cricket was another. Next, we use breaks as a PR moment to ask celebrities some questions – "Ms Shaw , what's the latest breakthrough in bio-technology", "Mr SM Krishna, your election strategy for the Congress?", some model his latest assignment, etc. What made it worse was that it was not before the match but during the match, albeit in the 1 minute break.
The racy game brought us all back to the core of the sport. It was overall a great match and Serena won the title. Vijay Amritraj’s words at the prize giving ceremony had the crowd rooting for both players. The entire experience was somewhat dulled by the cricket fiasco in the middle. It’s not as though cricket didn’t outshadow every other sport in India in real life, now we also have to live with the ghost of cricket stepping into tennis territory. And that, my friends, is the spirit of cricket! In tennis. Only in India. Love it or hate it, one jus can’t deny it.
