Sport

The coming of age of an athlete

CHENNAI: In the life cycle of most living organisms, shedding skin is considered to be vital to the process of attaining maturity.

Moulting, as it is called, gives space to the growing cells, allowing for their growth and differentiation.

In sport too, the evolution of an athlete from the level of a rookie into the big bad world of the professional is marked by various roles, each one of which has to be embraced and done away with before one can progress to the next stage.

Somdev Devvarman on Saturday gave evidence of crossing his first signpost on the road to development when he made his first ATP final in an event at which he had been fortuitous enough to get a wild card.

Kissed by fortune, the mop-top showed poise, not in the actual act of making the final, but in his grounded perspective of what his achievement was being made out to be.

“It’s obviously great to have reached the final. But this is just one tournament… it is not my entire year… not my entire career. Even at this event, my work is far from over,” he reacted to overstated remarks of pride and potential at a press conference.

Glad though he was of getting “some extra rest for my legs”, Somdev said the walkover route to the final was not something he particularly enjoyed.

“I played awesome today,” he grinned,

“No, seriously, I would have rather sweated my way into the final, but, yeah, I’ll take it,” he added

Placed a lowly 202 on the ATP list, though the ranking will surely be given a working over come Monday, Somdev acknowledged the role of all those who had helped him reach this stage, and said he wouldn’t take any specific names because there were so many who were responsible for his success.

“There are way too many people. The last thing I would want to do is forget names now. I would never want to become the kind of person who thinks that he alone is responsible for his achievements,” he stated.

Primarily known for his proficiency on clay, the 23-year-old revealed that his stint in the United States had compelled him to hit balls on hard courts, thereby increasing his level of comfort on that surface.

“I enjoy playing on clay, but in college it was either indoor hard or outdoor hard. That developed another aspect of my game,” he said.

Known for his amateur strumming on campus at the University of Virginia — the words ‘Dave Mattews Band’ figure prominently on his bandana — Somdev also refused to ruminate on how his career would shape up in the years to come.

“Five years is a long time in tennis. In fact, it’s unbelievable how eventful the past six months have been. Well, I will definitely play in the qualifiers in Melbourne (Australian Open) and then a few ATP events in the U.S.”

Earlier, Somdev emerged on court to pacify a disappointed crowd that had turned up for his scheduled semifinal against Rainier Schuettler.

Hitting no less that 10 tennis balls into the stands, Somdev thanked the “loud and rowdy” audience for their support.

A little later, Charu Sharma directed a light-hearted jibe at him.

“I saw you shake hands with Schuettler,” said Charu Sharma, obviously referring to the German’s injured wrist, “what did you do to him?”

Somdev just smiled and kept quite, indicating, perhaps, that if he has realised this early in his career when to keep mum, he is surely on his way to better things.

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