Indian serves big and hits deep in 55-minute romp to enter Round Two of the Chennai Open
Chennai Open
CHENNAI: Once in a divine while the elements conspire and allow a mortal to transcend his plane. From the time Rohan Bopanna walked out for his Chennai Open contest against world No 90 and fifth seed Cyril Saulnier to walking off 6-3, 6-3 after a bare 55 minutes, he did not play tennis. He played God.
Lest subjective interpretation be construed as unbalanced, it is prudent to let figures romp: 86% first serves in the first set, a 100% break point conversion rate (3 out of 3) and a whopping 69% of total points won on serve.
There are times in a player’s life when his sweat greases open a portal to another level. When everything he brushes his racquet it takes the hue he seeks to impart. On Tuesday Bopanna was the artist gone mad. At no point in the match would he look to conjure and come up empty-handed. That backhand which has the tendency to fall short of its own grand flourish as the match wears on, today plumbed the very depths of the court as ‘Bops’ found the lines at will.
The weapon around which Bopanna’s arsenal revolves is his ‘Bofors’ serve. Two break points would dissolve to the unquestionable authority of that statement. Another had the Frenchman flailing to connect but failing to do so with any semblance of authority. But his Achilles has always been the backcourt game.
Saulnier may be forgiven for physical violence at the very suggestion for today Bopanna hit not only penetrating forehands and backhands, he felt cocky enough to even make drop shots and full blooded passes which had the sparse crowd howling in delight.
Nothing much has changed in the man’s life of late except for a female traveling companion who he would rather not discuss. It that’s his muse, so much the better.
“Playing three qualifying matches seems to have worked. I was specially pleased with keeping my concentration at break points when I served big,” the 6 feet 2 Coorgi said later.
“I had spoken to Leander (Paes) and Mahesh (Bhupathi) about him and I knew he was pretty flat. So I went for it from the word go. The last time I played this good was in the Davis Cup against Holland.” That was in 2003 for the world group play-off when Bopanna lost to then French Open finalist Martin Verkerk 10-12 in the fifth.
Whether he manages to stay perched on what is obviously the peak of his game remains to be seen but on a Magic Tuesday, Bopanna again announced that he has what it takes as far as the game goes. If only he would also begin to work on those muscles, the magic would begin to get so much more regular.
Surrogate treatment
Even as the tournament searches for Indian stars to draw in the crowds, the scheduling of Rohan Bopanna’s match makes little sense. Bopanna was supposed to play on an outside court at the same time that former world number one Carlos Moya went out on centre court. Our man from Bangalore has shown during the Davis Cup what crowd support can do for his game.
However, he had to make do with the limited few who would leave the main arena - that too with comeback seeking Moya doing his stuff - to witness his encounter against Cyril Saulnier of France. Bopanna’s take with a wide grin: “Chalta hai. After all that is a lucky court. That’s just where I played my final qualifying match and made it to an ATP event for the first time.” For his next round match against fifth seed Giles Muller you bet the organiszers won’t let him go back to his lucky court.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}