Indian tennis at a crossroads

India is going through a transition period in tennis at the moment, especially on the men’s side. The onus is on the younger players to perform and carry over the mantle from the likes of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who have been carrying Indian tennis on their shoulders for decades. The gen-next of tennis have talent no doubt, but it has been a rough ride for stars such as Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna. Bopanna has moved from singles to concentrate on doubles, while for Somdev, it has been a constant battle with injuries in the last year. He did not have the best of starts this season, but a challenger victory at Delhi will boost his confidence no doubt. 20-year old Yuki Bhambri has made an exceptional start to the 2014 season, but it remains to be seen whether him, along with the likes of Ramkumar Ramanathan can stamp their authority on the professional circuit.

In the women’s side of the game, India has failed to capitalize on the interest created by Sania Mirza according to former Indian tennis star Ramesh Krishnan. Ankita Raina is the highest ranked woman player, at 285.

“We need to have more numbers coming through. Ideally, I would like to see at least two boys and girls in the draws of grand slam junior tournaments”, said the former Davis Cup finalist, who recently celebrated 25 years since defeating Mats Wilander at the Australian Open.

If the Davis Cup performance against Chinese Taipei was a breeze, Krishnan expects the Korean challenge to be more of a storm. “History also shows that Korea has had a good record against India. I feel it is a tough game, especially given their home advantage but we have a chance if we play well”, said the former Davis Cup captain. The former World no.23 also shared his thoughts on Leander’s decision to pull out of the Davis Cup, to give the youngsters a chance.

“Leander has certainly put in his bit as far as representing India. So if he feels he wants some time off from national duty, he is entitled to it”.

The Indian tennis scene is also buzzing for a different reason. The inaugural International Premier Tennis League, a brainchild of Mahesh Bhupathi has been given the green signal. Mumbai has been confirmed as one of the franchises, but Krishnan feels it would be interesting to see how it would play out in tennis. Not just is Indian tennis going through a testing time, but so is the BIG 4-Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray.

While Murray has been is on the comeback trail post surgery, he has admitted that it would be long road back to emulate his Wimbledon success. This year’s opening Grandslam, the Australian Open threw surprise winner in Stanislas Warinka, the first man outside the top 4 to win a grand slam since Juan Martin Del Potro’s US Open exploits in 2009. With Murray and Federer still struggling to get back to the top of their games, Ramesh doubts it will ever be the BIG 4 again.

“A few years ago, the big 4 reached the last 4 in all four majors. I don’t know whether that was ever done before. We might never see that again”, he admitted.