Sport
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Tennis
Tata Open inaugurated
By K. Keerthivasan
Vijay Amritraj accompanying the Mascot T2 during the opening ceremony of the Tata Open, in Chennai on Monday. - Photo: Vino John
CHENNAI, DEC.31 Opening ceremonies have their own glamour, and they portend good things. It is a ritual done with pomp and grandeur, and normally associated with National Games, Asian Games and multi-event sports. They are conducted normally during team events as they give the officials and the administrators, the medium to voice their dreams and grand plans. In individual sport, perhaps, it is different. Swift and short would be the right words to describe it the scenes on the Centre Court of the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium where the Tata Open was formally inaugurated, on Monday.
After the first encounter on the Centre court got over between Germanys Axel Pretzsch and Slovaias Dominik Hrbaty, the ceremony got going. Infact, whatever little consolation the crowd received was from the opening ceremony as the first two matches on the centre court fell flat.
Minutes after the first match , Vijay Amritraj, the showman par excellence, hit it off by welcoming the Mascot of the Tata Open-T2. A kid under soon arrived with the balloons, and they were let off by Fabrice Santoro, formally signifying the opening of the event.
It was watched by Mr. Ravi Krishnan, Mr. Jerry Armstrong, Tournament Supervisor, Ms Sheila Maniam, Tournament Director, and Mr. Ramadurai, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services.
Immediately several children sporting Tata Open T-shirts came in an orderly fashion from around the court with balloons. The moment the music was switched on, came chants there is nothing like Chennai crowd, Chennai crowd is the best as the balloons soared high, Vijay joked, Hope they don't come back to disturb the players.
Throwing balls to all parts of the stands, Vijay urged the crowd to shout more. One child who was not happy with the `ball throwing act demanded a racquet, and the former India player stopped throwing the balls!
What is the mascot called T2 doing , What does it stand for? Isnt it funny? ``Yes, says Romit Chatterji, Vice- President, Corporate Affairs, Tata Services, It is a fun and jovial character. It means Tata Tennis. The mascot is common for Tata Futures, Tata Legends, and for Tata Open. Was the ceremony very short. Could it have been a bit longer? The ATP gives us only this much time, reasons Romit. It (opening ceremony) is our way of recognizing the players, the referees, the AITA officials, and everybody who is involved with the event, explains Mr. Ravi Krishnan of IMG.
Surely, on a day when crowd favourite Leander Paes losing in quick time to Russian Andrei Stoliarov, the kids would have loved to receive more balls being thrown to the stands, and being gifted away a few racquets!
A chat with the top seed
Argentina has produced quite a few outstanding players like Guillermo Vilas, Jose Luis Clerc, who with their achievements on court turned the attention of the football-crazy public to the gentleman sport- tennis. Now in their footsteps, comes another player who promises much- Guillermo Canas.
From a ranking of 130 in 2000 to as high as 14 in 2001, what the 24-year old has achieved in a year is nothing short of remarkable. ``I changed my practice sessions. Made small changes in my playing ways. All these small things, I think helped me'', said Canas, the top seed at the Tata Open, while interacting with the mediapersons, at the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium, here, on Monday.
``It was tough that time. I did not play tennis'', said Canas, on the wrist injury he suffered in March 2000. I remember in Dec 31. 2000, I lost to a qualifier in my first tournament. I started to appreciate the sport during the break. He has been consistent and has never dropped from top 20 from midway in 2001, beating top players like Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Michal Chang, Marat Safin, and also clinched his maiden title at Casablanca along the way.
Argentinans' passion for football is similar to the fan following in cricket here. Football is the best sport to watch, he says. ``Tennis is a second sport in Argentina. We are all good sportsmen.''
His favourite player is none other than Maradona. For me he is the best. He is from another planet. Seven players from Argentina all ranked in the top 100 remarks a journalist, no its nine ``, Canas corrects. He says the reason is because We are good friends, so it becomes easy for us to do it.
When asked about the Vilas influence, he says, Before Vilas, tennis was only for the high-society, now it has become a sport for the masses. His immediate ambition is to break into top 10, but at the moment I would like to enjoy my tennis and have fun. The people in Chennai are nice. It feels good to be here,'' said Canas. ``I want to do well in the forthcoming Davis Cup tie against Australia. We have a fair chance as it is a home tie,'' Canas added.
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