Golden era of Indian sport has arrived: Krishnan

R Eswar in Madras

The golden era of Indian sport has arrived, says Ramanathan Krishnan, whose artistry on the tennis court took him to the Wimbledon semi-finals twice, a feat no other Indian has achieved.

Arguably the greatest tennis player India has produced, Krishnan hung up his racquet a quarter-century ago, but remains actively involved with the game through his Tennis Academy in Madras. His son Ramesh followed in his illustrious footsteps, playing for the country with distinction.

Krishnan is not happy with what the game's administrators have done to the Davis Cup through commercialization and glamour. The relegation of the tournament worldwide has been shameless, he says.

But surveying the Indian sports scene, the 64-year-old Krishnan says this is the golden era of Indian sports because never before have Indian sportsmen done so well in so many disciplines as now.

Viswanathan Anand is the world chess champion, Gopichand is the All-England badminton champion, S Vijayalaxmi and Koneru Hampi are doing well in chess, Karnam Malleswari won an Olympic bronze medal in weightlifting, Sachin Tendulkar is going great guns and V V S Laxman and Harbhajan Singh are setting new records in cricket, he noted in a free-wheeling interview with the Press Trust of India.

"This," Krishnan says, "makes me the happiest Indian and I celebrate it."

A man with very humble beginnings -- his father T K Ramanathan had to sell a piece of his wife's jewellery to buy his son a tennis racket -- Krishnan is a very proud Indian and feels it is patriotism that propels Indian players to perform exceedingly well in Davis Cup matches.

"Indian players do well in the Davis Cup due to patriotic feelings. You rarely find such patriotic players like Leander [Paes] or Mahesh [Bhupathi]. They have been able to raise their game several notches when they play for the country. Similar was the case with Vijay [Amritraj] and Ramesh.

"It is in our blood. When a Davis Cup tie comes, we rise to the occasion and play. We always played like that and Leander and Mahesh are continuing the tradition.

"Our players may not be as good as many on different surfaces, but in one particular week of the Davis Cup they are able to motivate themselves, raise their game.

"Maybe if you rank our players based on Davis Cup performance, they might be top 25 in the world. Leander and Mahesh could be ranked among the top 20."

The man who took great pride in playing for his country is, however, sad about the state of affairs in the Davis Cup now.

"Lots of players in the Western countries are not available for Davis Cup ties. It is a shameless thing.

"Today people are looking into making money, go for star value and endorsements. Commercialization and glamour has taken precedence. People have brought down tennis to that."

"We are going to play the United States in September. Chances are that [Pete] Sampras will not be there and even [Andre] Agassi won't be there. Their top players schedule their participation in events with a preference and their primary objective is not to play Davis Cup matches. Such half-hearted feelings are existent in players of other countries."

Krishnan, who was once ranked number three in the world -- the highest any Indian has got -- recalls that rubber sliced out from worn motorcycle tyres served as soles for his shoes and says professionalism does not mean that you make a lot of money like players do these days.

"I must say professionalism in tennis started in 1947-48. What is professionalism? You do something without doing anything else. My father played tennis and made me play tennis. There was no income from tennis. I played only tennis and did not do anything else to earn my living. In a way, I was a professional."

Krishnan, who initially wanted to play team games like football and cricket, credits his father, himself a tennis player of repute, for making him concentrate on tennis and feels proud that three generations of his family have served the game.

Krishnan even competed against his son Ramesh and lost on all ocassions. "Somehow, I could not play against Ramesh. Every time I played him, I was struck emotionally. I lost in four finals against him."

The senior Krishnan says Ramesh had the ability to go beyond the quarterfinal stage in the US Open and Wimbledon, his best performances. "He could have gone beyond, but his height and power behind his game did not allow him to go further. Power alone can take you to great heights. But Ramesh is a great fighter and he rose to occasions winning the fifth rubber for India in Davis Cup matches four times.

"The highest point of his career was beating Wally Masur of Australia 8-6 6-4 6-4 to put India in the Davis Cup final in 1987."

That was the last time India reached the final of the Davis Cup with Ramesh emulating his father who led India there for the first time in 1967.

His father does not agree with the suggestion that Ramesh retired a bit prematurely and could have continued for a couple of years more. "I do not think Ramesh's retirement was premature. If he was young and still playing top-class tennis, it was a different thing. His was a long career spanning 15 years. He might have played one more year because new players were not coming up. When he quit, there was no second player apart from Leander for about one or two years. Ramesh could have filled in, but in any case he had to retire."

Krishnan attributes the lack of a second line of players to a variety of reasons. "It is mere economics. To become a good tennis player, you need more money today. Our players lack that. In my time, good facilities were available, but today you need money in foreign exchange."

Then there is the age factor. "In our country 'catch them young' means at the age of ten. But in most successful European countries, it means at the age of four. We start too late."

There is also the lack of seriousness. "Majority of parents in India put their children into tennis not to become very good, but good enough to get scholarships in universities abroad. Some others take to it because it provides a social status. Then there are others who want their children to be taken care of for four hours and be made to look busy."

But he strongly believes that a few players will emerge in the next two or three years to take the mantle from Paes and Bhupathi. "I still feel that when Leander and Mahesh quit, there will be two other players to fill the void. They may do badly for a year or two, but then they will become good. I don't know whether they will become as good as Leander or Mahesh, which only time will tell. But we will have two good players.

"I am pretty certain that somebody will come up and will be there for certain time. I expect someone to crop up, the way Leander did when Ramesh was quitting."

Krishnan is very satisfied grooming young talent and does not want to get into administration of the game. "I will never take [a post] even if it were offered to me as it is a thankless job. You can never make a name on that because there are critics and you cannot satisfy everybody. I am incapable of running sports administration.

"I have no ambition. I want to keep good health thanks to almighty God."

Krishnan also is a firm believer in sports diplomacy in promoting relations between two countries and supports resolving the strained cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. "Sports has proved to be the biggest platform to bring nations together. I firmly believe that what you cannot achieve from your office room, you can achieve it in a sports arena. Sports should be used for promoting friendship between nations and I am sure the politicians will realise this soon.

"India and Pakistan cannot be stopped from playing cricket. The cricketers from the two countries, I think, do not have any different feelings. They might be competitive, but they are all friendly with each other," he said.

PTI