CHENNAI: Slowly but surely, India’s tennis players are getting back on court after spending the last two-and-a-half months at home. On Friday, Prajnesh Gunneswaran plans to return to the SDAT tennis stadium in Chennai for a first on-court session since March.
The path back for tennis players isn’t going to be easy. Even if other sports may completely restart within the next month — football, golf, cricket and F1 to name a few — the global nature of tennis means the authorities will have to bide their time before giving the go-ahead. Rohan Bopanna, the first elite Indian player to restart training, explains.
“Tennis is a very global sport, think of players and support staff from over a 100 countries descending to play a Major for example. How will that work out during a pandemic. So that is going to be a big part of the challenge,” he told this daily.
The 40-year-old has a point. Men’s and women’s singles players alone accounted for some 50 countries during last year’s US Open. Throw in doubles players, coaches, support staff and the umpires and that number will be pushing 100. The 40-year-old, who started training at his academy in Yelahanka (a Bengaluru suburb) from June 2, accepts that there is still a lack of certainty.
Even if exhibition events have sprung up in Europe, there is no clarification yet on when the Tour is likely to resume. All events till the first Sunday of August have been cancelled. The US Open has maintained it will go ahead but some of the game’s leading lights have opined that they may give it a miss. World No 1 Novak Djokovic had this to say a few days ago.
“I had a telephone conversation with the leaders of world tennis. There were talks about the continuation of the season, mostly about the US Open due in late August, but it’s not known whether it will be held,” he told Serbia’s Prva TV.
“The rules are extreme. We would not have access to Manhattan, we would have to sleep in hotels at the airport, to be tested twice or three times per week. Also, we could bring one person to the club, which is really impossible. I mean, you need your coach, a fitness trainer, a physiotherapist.”
For Bopanna, the problem is different. “Where is the talk of me, or anybody else, going to New York now? I cannot even come from Bengaluru to Chennai for the time being. New York is a million miles away for now,” the doubles specialist said. He was just thankful for having the opportunity to get back on to court after a long time.
“The first few days were understandably rusty, I didn’t even serve or have a session at full pelt.” He is planning on just having a few hits for the next few weeks because of the lack of clarity. “I am still waiting for the authorities to say what they are planning to do with the US swing. Anyway, there is no point in having full-on training sessions because you could pick up an injury after a long time away from the game.”
Sasikumar, Manish start training
Manish Sureshkumar (World No 642) and Sasikumar Mukund (281) trained at the SDAT’s tennis stadium in Chennai on Thursday for about 90 minutes.
They are likely to be joined by Prajnesh Gunneswaran from Friday. The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) has only given permission for these three to use the court facilities as of this point in time.