Into the new millennium... Gold Flake Open reflects the game's cultural leap

CHENNAI, DEC. 31. The teenaged threesome, clad in designer jeans and viewing the world around them through trendy sunglasses, arrived chauffeur-driven in an Opel Astra, stuck a slab of chewing gum each into their mouths and briskly made their way to one of the outside courts at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium on Friday.

``Cool guys, eh,'' chirped of them, looking in the direction of a pair of players practising on court, bare from waist up.

``Yeah,'' nodded his friend, and then turned around and lamented: ``Why can't they open these food stalls early enough. I am dying for a pizza.''

Fifteen minutes was all that the three youngsters had spent in the benevolent December afternoon sun and already one was ``dying'' for a Rs. 120 pizza, the other thirsting for a can of Coke and the third, perhaps, wondering why allied entertainment sites at the venue were still not open to public.

Welcome, then, to tennis' Millennium Make-over!

As tennis fast-forwards into the new millennium, the changes are nowhere more evident than in this city where the game's most popular stage - the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium - bears little resemblance to the hallowed home of the game of another era, the dilapidated old Egmore stadium, whose cow-dung splashed courts reverberated to the dancing feet of the Frasers, Nastases and the Krishnans.

What is more, the complexion of the crowds - vis a vis their expectations from a tennis event - has vastly changed too as much as the bank balance that a top player visiting this city for a tennis tournament might boast of, these days.

Almost a half century ago, an upright gentleman used to ride a few miles on his old AJS motorcycle - his chubby young son seated in the rear with a wooden racquet tucked under his arm - to the Egmore stadium, both father and son dreaming a hundred dreams of glory.

The late T.K. Ramanathan, to be sure, wasn't worried about whether he'd be able to buy a bottle of mineral water at the venue; nor was the young Ramanathan Krishnan concerned about whether snacks would be available at the stadium.

The world has come a long way since those unforgettable days in this city, the spiritual home of the great game - and, so indeed has tennis itself.

On Friday, amidst all the hectic activity at the Nungambakkam stadium, what was clear was that this city and its many tennis fans have imbibed the new culture in the game well enough in a rather short time of four years.

No longer is the Gold Flake Open, set to kick off on Monday, merely a tennis event.

As with any major tennis tournament on the ATP Tour in other parts of the world, the Gold Flake Open is an entertainment package designed to cater to fans and players whose demands are hardly comparable to their predecessors' in the Ramanathan Krishnan era.

Starting Monday, there will be more to the Gold Flake Open than just forehands and backhands on the courts.

On and off the site, fans can look forward to a lot of activity with a charity auction of tennis memorabilia contributed by the stars scheduled to take place on January 4.

At the venue itself, things seem to be falling in place to get everything ready in time for the tournament even as the lesser mortals of the tennis world, the lowly ranked players, are busy practising for the qualifying event which is scheduled to be held on Sunday and Monday.

The one man who wouldn't need to worry about having to practice for the first tournament of the millennium is Marat Safin, the Russian teenager who was expected to thrill the fans here with his high power tennis.

Safin has been forced to withdraw from the tournament because of an elbow injury.

Spaniards Albert Portas and Juan Carlos Ferrero as well as Cecil Mamit of the United States have also pulled out.

The injured players' place will be taken by the top three available players from the alternate list.

Meanwhile, the tournament organisers have given a wild card to Saurav Panja for the qualifying event.

Panja won the Indian Oil-Servo Krishnan Tennis Centre invitation tournament on Thursday.

The tournament organisers have also announced the third and last wild card for the main event.

It has gone to Paul Kilderry of Australia. The first two went to Leander Paes and the teenaged National hardcourt champion Sunil Kumar.

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