A few days ago, the writer woke up to read in the newspaper that the country’s premiere tennis tournament, the Chennai Open would shift to Pune from next year [1]. For someone who had attended the tournament for at least one day in all editions barring one, it was deeply upsetting. And along with it came an avalanche of memories which was bound to happen to anyone who had followed the tournament since it came to the city in 1997 (the previous edition had been held in Delhi).

The tournament called Gold Flake Open at the time and held in April was an instant hit with packed houses for the semi-final and final. Mikael Tillström went on to win that year but it was the doubles that would be more remembered. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi made the final and went on to win starting off one of the glorious eras of Indian tennis.

The following year was a star studded event as Boris Becker graced the tournament along with three Australians (the Woodies and Pat Rafter). The stadium was packed all week long despite Becker losing in the pre-quarter final and the Woodies losing their doubles match in the second round (that Woodforde played a near three hour match in a losing cause against Tillström right before their doubles game may not have helped). Rafter went on to win in what would be his only appearance in the tournament. Leander and Mahesh willed on vociferously by a capacity crowd won again in the doubles, scripting wins from being a set down in all but their first round (their first round was also a three set affair). The duo went on to complete the hat-trick in 1999. In 2000, the year the tournament shifted to January, Mahesh did not participate (might have been due to an injury the writer does not remember exactly) and the duo’s streak ended. However, the final was not without an Indian pair. That event had to wait till the following year as Prahlad Srinath and Saurav Panja combined to reach an unlikely final although sadly, they lost that match.

The years that followed saw a number of players establish themselves in the tennis circuit having tasted success in the tournament. Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in particular deserves mention having been ranked outside the top 100 before he reached his first final in the tournament (then called Tata Open). The crowd certainly adored him and Srichaphan went on to win the next year and would reach two more finals after that. In 2004, the crowd witnessed one match that few might have memory of. Having witnessed an enthralling final between two crowd favourites Carlos Moya and Paradorn Srichaphan (Moya won), the doubles match featured two non-Indian pairs. Jonathan Elrich and Andy Ram, a known doubles pair at the time played Tommy Robredo and partner, and it was the latter who took the title. The partner returned to the city three years and two French Open titles later. And literally everyone the writer knew had a collective – How on earth do we not remember?!

Rafael Nadal, unlike many of his peers who participated in the tournament towards the end of their careers, was ranked world number two and yet to reach his peak when he played in the singles event of 2007. However, while he captivated the crowd with his tennis, Nadal went on to lose not once but twice to Xavier Malisse in the space of two days, first in the semi-final of the singles and then in the final of the doubles the following day. Malisse became the first player to win both the singles and the doubles titles in the same year in the tournament. Nadal partnered Salva-Vidal to reach the final. Vidal was remembered by those who watched the doubles final with the writer least he would go on to win grand slams (a repeat of what happened with his partner was unthinkable!). As can be guessed, not much was heard about Salva-Vidal since.

Nadal returned the following year and his semi-final match against an inspired Carlos Moya (the city’s adopted son by this time) would go down as the greatest match of the history of the tournament. It is one the biggest regrets of the writer that he missed the first hour of this match. He certainly watched the three hours that followed it! Ending at close to 11 o’clock in the night, Nadal won an epic near four hour edge of the seat thriller, which left not only the players but also the crowd drained of energy. An exhausted Nadal received a drubbing from Mikhail Youzhny in the final, but the crowd was cheering nonetheless willing to forgive him anything. In the presentation, Nadal gamely jested that he would win next year, having reached semi-final the previous year and the final of that year. This of course, drew more ecstatic cheering from the crowd. He would not return but there can be no doubt that he left an indelible mark on the tournament.

However, if one door closed another opened. Somdev Devvarman had a glorious run in the singles event becoming the first Indian to reach the final before losing to Marin Cilic in a well fought match. ‘Had to wait 13 years to see this happen’, started Vijay Amritraj who hosted the presentation. Barely, five seconds later, the lights of the stadium suffered a power loss. ‘Had to wait 13 years for this as well! The bill has been paid!’ quipped Amritraj not breaking stride (the mic was still working) drawing a hearty laugh all around. The lights snapped back on a few minutes later and normal service resumed.

2009 was also the year Stanislas Wawrinka winner of the gold medal in doubles in the Beijing Olympics made the first of his eight appearances in the tournament. He also became the most successful player of the tournament winning no less than four times, three of which came continuously from 2014-16. By the end of this time however, although his legion of fans loved him for his loyalty to the Chennai Open, doubts began to grow if he would continue to turn up without other players to challenge him (his last title was won without dropping a set in the tournament and he was in a class of his own). Sure enough, like how all good things come to an end, in 2017, he chose to play in Brisbane.

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Meanwhile, the tournament itself was facing a constant challenge to stay afloat. Most who followed the tournament’s fortunes from its inception would admit it was on a downward slope. The last hard fought final the writer remembers well was more than five years ago, when Milos Raonic beat Janko Tipsarevic (another regular at the Chennai Open). The match lasted more than 3 hours with three tie breaks and without a break of serve at that! Since then, the classics dwindled as did the number of top players who appeared in the tournament. Of course, there were a number of good players like David Goffin and Roberto Bautista Agut (winner of the 2017 edition), who like Srichaphan rose through the ranks having done well in the tournament. However, the event failed to attract the crowd pullers to keep attendances during the weekdays high. There might have been any number of reasons for this but the bottom line remains that an era has come to an end.

So, what next for tennis in the city? There is some talk about Challengers 1500 and the Davis Cup [2]. While the Davis Cup is welcome, it is not likely to be a permanent fixture like the ATP event. And Challengers 1500 is clearly not the same level as the ATP World Tour although the city’s tennis fans will have no qualms about hosting more than one tournament. However, a really good replacement has to be like for like.

WTA events have been held in India in various cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Calcutta and Pune. However, none of them have managed to sustain. Now, however, the door has opened for the Chennai Open to step up and make a bid to host a WTA event in the city. The ATP survived for so long in the city primarily because of the people who continued to attend even in years without appearances from star players. On the contrary, the crowd created stars out of players who appeared multiple times and did well long before they made it big on the world stage. There is every reason to believe the city will delighted to host to a WTA event and serve as a great platform to future stars. There is every reason to believe too that such a tournament would find a home it can back to every year and become the premiere tennis tournament in the country, given the city’s reputation as being the tennis capital of India.

The writer suspects Sania Mirza has heard of stories from the likes of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi about the 5000 strong crowd that had the pleasure of watching and supporting the duo through thick and thin over the years. The writer would dearly like the city to have the chance to do the same for Sania and her peers. The only question is - are the good people at the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association willing to do the needful to give the city that chance? The SDAT stadium in Nungambakkam awaits.

P.S. There were many memories that kept rising to the surface as one dwelled on the times that has been and this piece is but a fraction. Additionally, the writer has limited himself to the action seen on the court. The writer has also used the tournament website link http://www.aircelchennaiopen.org/2017/twentieth_anniversary/unforgettable_moments where his own memory with dates or player spellings was a little fuzzy and needed confirmation.

REFERENCES

1.     Chennai Open moves to Pune, now called 'Maharashtra Open' http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/chennai-open-cancelled-over-paucity-of-funds/article19316740.ece , S. Dipak Ragav, 20 July 2017, The Hindu

2.     TNTA plans new tournaments for Chennai http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/tennis/top-stories/tnta-plans-new-tournaments-for-chennai/articleshow/59693998.cms , Damayanti Dasgupta, 21 July 2017, The Times of India