Their Challenger win last week in New Delhi may be the tip of better things to come
NEW DELHI: The avowed aim of the AITA in holding Challenger level tournaments in India was to give our players a chance to compete at a higher stage with the advantage of home conditions. While many a big name wilted under the curious mix of sweltering heat and stormy rain in Delhi, two persistent sloggers came real good.
At 25 and 28, Ashutosh Singh and Harsh Mankad can not be touted as the freshest thing in Indian tennis but their winning the doubles of the second $50,000 Challenger does tell a remarkable story. The tale gets all the better when one considers that Singh was the most successful Indian in the singles too.
When Singh was a junior he was not considered good enough for support. He kept at what he figured best - whacking tennis balls. At 22 when he won his first doubles Futures title, he was presumed to be too old to be a prospect for the future. He did not give up. Now at 25 he has won a Challenger and frankly Singh does not give a damn anymore about what is thought about him, instead he would rather just keep winning at a level that has fancier stars like Prakash Amritraj failing to clear a round in singles.
Mankad is coming back after an injury layoff for close to a year. He says he will keep playing till the time he enjoys going out there and giving his best. The win by the two is the first one by an Indian pair in nearly two years. The two are looking to build on it and have decided to jig their schedules to play more doubles together. Given Mankad’s solidity from the back and Singh’s court craft, this pairing augurs well.
With the flux that the present Davis Cup squad is in and players pandering more to their ego than the call of playing for the country, all that Singh and Mankad need are a couple of good wins at the Challenger level to be right up there amongst the contenders for the team.
Then there are the Common Wealth Games in Delhi in 2010. If these two keep at it, expect them to be one of the teams that India puts in.
