Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chennai Open has its fans

— PHOTO: M. Vedhan

Enthusiastic lot: Spectators enjoying a game at the Chennai Open on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Familiar faces at the Chennai Open, all for the love of the game. Jose Varghese, his family and friends know as much about the tournament as there is to know.

“We are the hardcore buffs,” says Raji, who makes it a point to fly down from the U.S., where she lives, each year to be at the Chennai Open. “We’ve seen the biggest, from Boris Becker and Patrick Rafter to the current hottest Rafael Nadal, but we miss the Indian boys Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi,” she said.

While never the one to miss out on the action, Jose laments the deterioration of the total tennis experience that the tournament used to bring. “The tournament (since its inception in 1997) has become bigger and better, the standards are world class, but getting tickets is a nightmare. We also notice that many who are here in the stadium really have no clue about the game,” he said.

Jose recalls how in the early days the tournament used to attract the world’s best. “The number of top players here keeps reducing. This year we have only Nadal and a couple others.” He felt there was a need to increase awareness of the game, especially since Chennai was supposedly the tennis capital of India.

Mamta Chabria, though not a Chennai Open loyalist yet, knows a thing or two about international tennis tournaments. Mamta studies in Switzerland and loves attending matches to catch her favourite players in action. “Actually, I’m a big Nadal fan, that’s why I’m here,” she says, gushing slightly. Mamta said there was a vast difference between the Chennai audience and the ones in Europe.

“At the Swiss open, the crowd was much older and knew a lot about the game. There is pin-drop silence when the players are serving,”

But, she does not completely disapprove of the crowd here, on the contrary, she says: “It’s so nice to see so many children in the crowd, but there definitely needs to be more awareness of the requirements of the audience at the game,” she said.

Mamta plans to visit Wimbledon next, but cringes at the thought of how much the tickets will cost her. “That’s the other great thing about the Chennai Open, you get such great seats for such low prices, it’s amazing,” she says.

Whether you are a hardcore fan like Jose, a globe-hopper like Mamta, or just a kid who wants to have a little fun, there is something for everyone at the Chennai Open.

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