Tennis Tournament Day-5

Vijay vs Pai:
'Slow and steady wins the race' was perhaps the apt description for this encounter. Both the players were taking it easy, they were refraining from hard hits and volleys. This ensued a battle of long and slow rallies and it felt like a badminton game. There was tension in the air all the while and we could smell it. The generally flourishing and hard hitting American Pai was on the backfoot, trying to play conservative and correct, instead of being aggressive, which is his strength. This perhaps forced him into a number of unforced errors. He lost the first set 6-3 and was down in the second 5-0 just when VJ had a moment of horror. While playing a shot he injured right leg and our own Dr. Ali Irani (Bhaskar Krishna) had to be called in. This was a moment which Pai should have seized. But as they say 'Mental injury is worst than physical one'. Limping Vijay was still able to hold on to his nerves and eventhough he lost 3 games in a row, he came back in the 9th game to clinch the match, thanx to his inspiration .....

Final scoresheet: Vijay beat Pai: 6-3,6-3

Shashwat vs Girish:
This I felt was tougher game. Again the same mistake made by both the players, playing in their shell and not playing their natural game. Shashwath, Mr Fast Serve was serving pathetically slow. It felt as if a Ferrari was being pulled by bulls. Nonetheless Girish was happy to return the ball equally slow. Shashwath did chip in with some rapid serves later in the game. But again I should say it was Girish's unforced errors which helped Shashwath. The players seemed to be equally matched but Shashwath attacked Girish's weak backhand and won the game.

Final scoresheet: Shashwath beat Girish; 6-4, 6-2


Today's upcoming excitement:
Today it is a clash of the old friends as Suchit - Pai faceoff with Abhishek - Rakesh. Suchit and Pai are rated again as one of the Top teams second only to Subhash and Viru. They have been playing good in practice matches. Suchit is buoyant with his singles victory over Viral but Pai has to get yesterday's game off his mind. As for Abhishek and Rakesh, well Rakesh used to be seen on the tennis courts but we never had a chance to see Abhishek's game. So is there a surprise package in store??? We'll let time decide that.

Weather Man says sunny skies for today with mild winds.


Article by Vikram Tungare