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Tennis
Paes disappoints as the puzzle defies solution
By Nirmal Shekar
CHENNAI, DEC.31 It's the Great Leander Paes jigsaw puzzle, a vexing conundrum that has defied solution for over a decade. Now and again, you would be tempted to throw up your hands in glee, under the illusion that you have edged close to resolution at last. But only to throw up your hands in helplessness and frustration immediately.
And, simply put, it's all down to a gap; yes, something as simple as a gap - the gap between India's No.1 player's performance levels vis a vis Davis Cup and the main tennis tour. It's a gap that's often as big as the biggest crater on the face of the moon!
Drawing our attention to the gap on Monday in the Tata Open championship at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium was a Russian who answers to the name Andrei Stoliarov, a rather stiff- backed no-nonsense fella who might not have complained about playing out in the open in Vladivostak on a January evening.
In the event, Stoliarov, beaten finalist in Chennai last year, was very much at home on a lovely evening here as he exposed the gap not only between Paes's Davis Cup heroics and his pedestrian struggles on the Tour but also, significantly, between a full-time singles player and a part-time singles player.
The Russian spent all of 47 minutes on court for his 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Paes and by the time the match got past the half hour mark, even the greatest of optimists in the largely empty stands appeared to give up.
In terms of time spent on court, it was Paes's quickest exit from the Chennai tournament and few other losses, if any, might have brought as much disappointment to the Atlanta Olympic bronze medallist as did this evening's departure.
``I had no rhythm. I was rusty, not sharp enough. The lack of singles match practice showed. It is frustrating given my record in singles in Davis Cup,'' said Paes.
When you look back to the last big match that Paes played this year, at Winston-Salem in the United States on October 14 to be precise, the gap we are talking about becomes obvious. Playing one of the hottest young stars of the year - Andy Roddick - in the World Group qualifying Davis Cup match, Paes came up with a truly heroic performance.
And in his next big match, here this evening, the contrast could not have been greater than it turned out to be. His approach shots were all over the place, his serve simply lacked fizz and, most of all, there seemed to be no fire in his heart.
Ah, the fire in the patriotic champion's heart that has pushed him time and again to spill his guts on the court in Davis Cup somehow simply refuses to light up on a Tour stage for the most part.
Stoliarov, for his part, played as well as he might have wanted to. He is a rather limited player. He knows his place under the sun, and stays there much of the time, straying now and again to brighter territory as he did here last year.
Coming into the match, the Russian would have expected a toil, given the identity of his opponent. As it turned out, Stoliarov was pleasantly surprised at how easy things turned out to be.
When a serve-and-volleyer wins 12 out of 22 points on his first serve - as did Paes - it is hardly good news. And Paes did not return too well either. He never had a single breakpoint opportunity in the entire match.
The Russian broke to 2-1 in the first set, storming ahead following a Paes double fault. He then hit the shot of the match, a superb forehand pass up the line, to wrap up the set with another break in the ninth game.
Paes showed a spot of promise as he held to 1-1 in the second set but from there the slide was quick. He missed a simple overhead and then a forehand volley to lose serve in the fourth game and, before long, the players were shaking hands.
Earlier, in what was a low-key start to the country's premier tennis event, Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, seeded six, knocked the wheels off Axel Pretzsch of Germany fairly early and coasted to a 6-1, 6-4 first round victory in front of a few hundred die-hard early-bird fans.
From the kind of atmosphere in which the opening act was enacted on the last day of the year, you might have thought a pair of tennis players were taking care of some of 2001's unfinished business before the midnight hour struck and the new year was ushered in.
But, in reality, this was the start of tennis's New Year, the beginning of yet another season in a sport which is forever on the fast forward mode and where tomorrow's business is often dealt with today.
That's the madness of modern tennis, a sport where next year's Tour begins this year, although this is one season when players might have had very little reason to complain with most of them getting a good two months away from the game.
Hrbaty himself appeared quite keen to get on with the job once he got on court, fresh and eager after a few weeks' rest. The man with the toothy grin and a Marine Corps hairdo would comfortably gain entry into the Slovakian Army headquarters if he traded his tennis whites for starched olives.
And Hrbaty went about his business with a soldier's determination and focus as he dismantled Pretzsch's game with high-velocity, high-precision serves, bread-and-butter double- handed backhands and pointpoint forehand winners.
Hrbaty, who hit 12 aces today, was very happy with the way he got the job done this evening. He has planned on a week- long stay in this city, and should he make it as far as the quarterfinals, he'd get to celebrate his 24th birthday in this city.
From 1-1 in the first set, Hrbaty, who climbed as high as No.13 in May 2000, won five games in a row, the first break coming in the fourth game. A Hrbaty forehand crosscourt winner dented Pretzsch's morale a bit and he responded with a double fault.
For all that, Pretzsch appeared to gain in confidence no sooner than the second set began. He started serving better and held his own till 4-4 when once again doubts visited his fragile mind.
Two more double faults, one after the other, in the ninth game from Pretzsch meant Hrbaty had two matchpoints. The balding German attempted to shoo the uninvited visitor away as he ventured up for the first time to stave off one. But this was a stubborn visitor who wouldn't go away. The match was over on the next point.
In other matches, away from the centre stage, Alex Calatrava of Spain beat Ota Fukarek of the Czech Republic 6-7, 6- 2, 6-4 and Olivier Rochus of Belgium got past Martin Lee of Britain 6-4, 6-3.
Later in the evening, the second seeded Swede Thomas Johansson got past Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 and Andrei Pavel of Romania sailed past Juan Antonio Marin, a lucky loser, from Costa Rica 6-3, 6-2. Marin got in because Olivier Marach of Austria, a wild card, did not show up.
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