What has happened to River Oaks?

WHICH WAS the most prestigious international tournament Ramanathan Krishnan won during his illustrious career? The maestro's own view may be different, but tennis aficionados would probably name his Queen's Club triumph, in London in 1959. Yet Krishnan's victory in the River Oaks meet, at Houston six years later, may be regarded just as highly by people in a position to judge.

Queen's, the pre-Wimbledon meet, is of course played on grass, and Western observers might still insist that Krishnan was ``brought up on grass''. He was not: in fact he never played on a lawn-court till his first visit to Kolkata, aged 13, but certainly he became as adept on grass as he was on any other surface.

Later in 1959, Krishnan did win the U.S. Hard Court title, in Denver, but for some reason this tournament never carried the same glamour as some other national championships in the United States. Certainly, River Oaks - where Krishnan beat Cliff Richey in the final - was a more notable triumph. Because it has dropped off the main men's tour, one does not hear much of River Oaks nowadays, but upto a time it was indeed a very well- known stop on the American spring circuit.

The River Oaks Country Club, in Houston, Texas, hosted its inaugural invitational meet in April 1931, with big-serving Ellsworth Vines becoming the first champion. Vines won the U.S. crown later that year, and went on to annex Wimbledon in 1932.

That several other Wimbledon champions won River Oaks - Jack Kramer, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson among them - puts a seal on the Houston tourney's status as a top-level meet.

Barring the years 1942-45 - World War II - River Oaks has had a regular run, and it was interesting to read this description in its 67th tournament web-site: ``the oldest event in the United States still played at its original site and on its original surface.''

``In spite of an enormous struggle going on in tennis politics for control of the game,'' the text continues, ``River Oaks carries on... an island in a sea of changes''.

Last year, the event had been won by Vince Spadea, who beat the Australian, Jason Stoltenberg, in the final. Seventy years since the tournament began, and unusually for an American event, some things remain unchanged at the country club venue: the green wooden stadium, the surrounding oak trees, the spring dates.

There was also a men's doubles event at River Oaks, and pairs who won the U.S. championship event and also triumphed in Houston include Budge and Mako, Seixas and Trabert, and Fraser and Emerson.Till 1959, there was, the women's singles too, the 1958 winner being Maria Bueno, who was champion again when the ladies' event was re-introduced in 1968.

In his memoirs, Krishnan gives an interesting ``excuse'' for his success at River Oaks in 1965 - that the Spaniard, Manuel Santana, whom he could never manage to overcome, had left for home. But in the quarter- finals on the red-clay surface at the country club, Krishnan had a merited win over Mexico's Rafael Osuna - some people in Chennai may remember their classic Davis Cup duel in 1962 - and in the semi-finals he had to get past none other than Roy Emerson, the reigning Wimbledon champion. Richey, whom Krishnan beat in the final, was to win the title himself, in 1968.

River Oaks had another tradition,which possibly continues to this day. The seeded players were ``auctioned'' among members of the country club - the sale being known as ``Calcutta pool'', doubtless having its roots in some racing-circle tradition from Kolkata. Krishnan's backer in his year of victory was a leading patron of the club, George H. W. Bush, later to become President of the United States.

It has been said that, in the final that Krishnan won over Richey, a junior Bush was among the ball-boys. However, this could not have been the current President, George W. Bush, who was almost nineteen at the time and then nearing the end of his freshman year at Yale.

Krishnan's River Oaks victory was the high spot of his foray into the American spring circuit that year. But, at Wimbledon two months later, he had a fine win over Clark Graebner in the second round, only to be beaten by the seeded Dennis Ralston in his next match.

As for River Oaks, it became - in 1973 - a part of the World Championship of Tennis (WCT) circuit. The champion that time (the tournament dates were April 2-8, the same as this year!) was Ken Rosewall, who beat Fred Stolle in the final.

That year Premjit Lall became the first Indian to earn a WCT contract, and he was (like Rosewall) in Group B - but it is not possible, in Lall's present state of health, to get confirmation that he played the River Oaks meet.

In 1975, Vijay Amritraj made the semi-finals at River Oaks, to be beaten by Cliff Drysdale, who lost the final against Rosewall. Anand Amritraj, with the half-Iranian Fred McNair as partner, lost the doubles final at the Houston country club meet in 1981, which was the year Ramesh Krishnan first played there - the scene of one of his father's finest tournament wins.

Post-1983, there has been a drop in the quality of the field at River Oaks, inevitable because the tournament has not been on the mainstream circuit. Therefore its stress on the tradition part of it, the desire to live with its heritage, because the present is - in a sense - passing it by.

As for Krishnan, River Oaks marked the end of a period, for he never played so consistently well on the circuit again. In August 1968, in the first year of ``open'' tennis, Krishnan did, though, win the Canadian Open in Toronto, beating the bearded, long- haired Dane, Torben Ulrich, in straight sets.

In recalling River Oaks and its one-time glory, we also salute a very fine achievement of our own Ramanathan Krishnan.

SUBROTO SIRKAR

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