Indian tennis rides piggy-back on the 'Paesmobile'

By Nirmal Shekar

TOKYO, APRIL 6. Nowhere in Indian sport is the line between life and death thinner than it is in tennis. And whatever is left of life - vital, throbbing life, not mere mundane existence - is owed to one man, a solitary crusader who has the heart of a gladiator.

And in an indoor tennis stadium here at Ariake Park that the Japanese call the coliseum, the opening day of the India-Japan Asia-Oceania Group I second round Davis Cup tie turned out to be as much a celebration of the biggest heart in Indian sport as it was yet another shrill warning that Indian tennis is skating on thin ice - depending every single time on the gladiatorial heroics of Leander Paes.

Playing his 50th singles rubber in Davis Cup against the very team that was the opposition in his debut match 11 years ago, Paes was much the master on his favourite stage as he outplayed Yaoki Ishii of Japan 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in an hour and 50 minutes for his 33rd singles victory.

But, then, it took Takao Suzuki - a dashing 24-year old who seems to believe that every single point in tennis is meant to be played from one half of his side of the court, the forecourt - almost a half an hour less than that, an hour and 21 minutes, to prove that the Indian Davis Cup team is a bit of a one-trick pony.

Suzuki sped away like a Ferrari and never quite looked back as he blew a rusty Mahesh Bhupathi off the court 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 to make it 1-1 for the home team. More significantly from Japan's point of view, the manner of execution offered the hope that Suzuki, for one, has it in him to put history on reverse gear, so to say.

It is 71 years since Japan last beat India in the Davis Cup competition. And Suzuki's relentlessly aggressive net game seems to have the potential to end the long drought, although the man standing between Japan and this historic feat - Leander Paes - is unlikely to move over and make way in a hurry.

Whatever happens the rest of the way in a tie that is balanced on knife-edge, this much is obvious: the commitment and skills that Paes consistently brings to the Cup stage has camouflaged the harsh reality of Indian tennis, a game that is on life support system, a system propped up by the dauntless spirit of Paes in singles and Paes and Bhupathi as a doubles team.

Say all you want about how crucial a doubles rubber often is in Davis Cup. But the truth is, 90 per cent of the ties worth winning are won on singles merit. And, in Indian tennis, if you did not count Paes, the cupboard is as bare as it can be.

And the rather more alarming aspect of the scenario is this: the administrators who have got used to riding piggy back on Paes's spectacular feats for a dozen years are smugly complacent that some young prodigy or the other will catapult himself to dizzy heights sooner or later.

So, a sport that has traditionally depended on chance rather than any scientific system, continues to hitch its wagon to the Paesmobile, so to say, oblivious to the hidden dangers of such a reckless existence.

But, the day the wagon will be left without an engine quite as dependable as Paes to power it may not be far off, although, on this day, things may not look quite as bleak for Indian tennis, especially in the context of this intriguingly close tie. ``It was a nice feeling today. I played my first match against Japan and to do so well in my 50th singles match against the same team is nice,'' said Paes whose overall record in Davis Cup (singles and doubles) is 51-25 in 27 ties.

As excited as Paes was about the day's success, he is realistic enough and experienced enough to know that the tougher part is yet to come. ``Suzuki is playing at the top of his form. He was very impressive today,'' said Paes after watching the second half of the Japanese net rusher's demolition job. ``Even the doubles is going to be tough. We have a job on our hands here.''

Against Ishii, Paes did not have too much of a job on his hands. He started on the right foot and did not falter until Ishii, with nothing to lose, started swinging away desperately and brought off some amazing passes close to the end. ``Towards the end, he started swinging from the hips. He returned and passed very well,'' said Paes.

Paes quickly moved into overdrive as the match started, winning three games in a row before Ishii held from 0-40 down. However, the Indian was three classes above the hapless Japanese player who won just nine points on Paes's serve by the time the Indian maestro had opened up a 6-1, 6-1, 4-2 lead.

It was in the seventh game of the third set, on Paes's serve, that Ishii played his best tennis. He won as many points on Paes's serve in that one game (nine) as he had in two and a half sets until then. But, Paes held to 5-2 after seven deuces and staved off four breakpoints before serving out the match without fuss in his next service game.

Watching such a swift execution from the sidelines might either inspire a player to seek revenge or add to his self- doubts. And Suzuki proved that he was a real champion as he made up for Ishii's mediocrity with a brand of brilliance that left Bhupathi shattered.

Serving and volleying with amazing confidence and skills and chipping and charging with tremendous courage and consistency in return games, Suzuki made Bhupathi look like a novice who had ventured into the big stage by some accident. To be fair to the Indian, he has played very few singles matches in the last two and a half years. Since coming back from a shoulder surgery, Bhupathi has mostly concentrated on doubles. Yet, given his big serve and the quality of his returns, you might have expected him to do much more than he managed to.

``He might have taken me by surprise. He played very well. He put a high percentage of first serves in and made me play a lot of balls,'' said Bhupathi. ``Maybe I didn't play as well as I can but I have to give him credit.''

For India, then, the prognosis is very clear: how successful they are in this tie, in the ultimate analysis, will depend the rest of the way on how well they manage to counter Suzuki, the young man intent on completing a mission that 15 successive Japanese teams have failed to accomplish against India in seven decades.

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