Unsung Hero
Leander remains a sporting icon
Boria Majumdar
People have suggested that when Sachin Tendulkar walks out to bat, the nation comes to a standstill. When the Indian cricket team wins a major series, anarchy has a field day in India. What will await Greg Chappell on his return to India if he can lead the team to a World Cup win in the Caribbean in 2007? Maybe he will be awarded the highest civilian honour and hailed as one of the most popular Indians of all time. None of the above madness happened or is likely to happen when Leander Paes stepped on the court to play the US Open men’s doubles final or when he spearheads the Indian challenge in the Davis Cup. One can perhaps take a risk and suggest that when Leander, partnered by Martin Damm, played Bjorkman and Mirnyi at 2.30 am IST on September 10, the entire nation (except maybe a handful) was asleep.
Yet Leander continues to inspire, to amaze, to startle and to top it all win laurels for the nation with amazing regularity. At the Australian Open earlier this year, Leander finished runners-up. He followed it up with a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon and now the ultimate crown at the US Open. Yet, let alone the fanaticism over Sachin, Leander hasn’t ever managed to spawn the hype generated by Sania Mirza following her 4th round US Open appearance last year.
It is commonplace to suggest that Leander is an average tennis player who reaches another level when he dons India colours at the Davis Cup. While on the one hand, this is meant as praise — he continues to remain patriotic after 16 years of professional grind — on the other hand, it dwarfs all his other achievements. Seven Grand Slam titles in 13 final appearances, which has helped reinstate India in the world tennis map. If Andre Agassi can play the US Open as an American, play before his home crowd and make them weep, what makes us feel that Leander only plays the Davis Cup for India and all other tournaments for himself ? Or is this yet another example of the famous Indian treatment of its sporting icons?
For the record, it was almost impossible to follow the men’s doubles final at the US Open. It was played simultaneously with the second
men’s semi-final between Roddick and Youzhny and understandably all attention was focused on Roddick. Channel 9, which was showing the US Open here in Australia, was covering the Roddick match and did not bother to move on to the doubles even after it ended. The only way to keep tab of the proceedings was to follow the score on the Internet. And having downloaded the point tracker at the US Open site, it was a unique experience. You could hardly blink, for if you did you ran the risk of missing a point. And while staring at the computer in the wee hours I was amazed to see that the point tracker informed me of the score at least two seconds in advance of the television broadcast. Even before Roddick had won a point on television, the point tracker had been updated on the Net. It was like watching a deferred live telecast, even though the delay was only a matter of seconds. And this rather startling contribution of modern technology gave me a kind of perverse pleasure — I was able to follow Leander and shout for him seconds before the television broadcast would have enabled me to.
When Leander and Damm lost the first set tie-break 5-7 after leading 5-3, it was almost impossible to keep gazing at the computer screen. Suddenly the glare was affecting my vision; suddenly my bed seemed a more coveted place to return to. And when they came back to win the match in three sets, I was amazed to see that not one Indian 24/7 television web portal updated the news that instant. In fact, it was after two hours that the news of Leander winning his first US Open title was updated. Can we imagine a similar plight for Rahul Dravid and his men?
But so what if the news wasn’t updated? So what if people don’t throng the airports when Leander comes back to India next? So what if he continues to be hailed as a Davis Cup wonder? The truth is that Leander, along with Vishwanathan Anand, has been the best thing to happen to Indian sport in the last two decades. And when he finally retires, nothing, not even the frenzy associated with Indian cricket, can take this truth away from him. He will continue to be the most awe-inspiring Indian sporting icon of all time. For who else could say, “Most people see Davis Cup as pressure on their shoulders. For me Davis Cup puts pressure under my shoulders, pressure that lifts me up”. Maybe the US Open did so too when Leander saw some Indian tricolours being waved from the stands.
Leander remains a sporting icon
Boria Majumdar
People have suggested that when Sachin Tendulkar walks out to bat, the nation comes to a standstill. When the Indian cricket team wins a major series, anarchy has a field day in India. What will await Greg Chappell on his return to India if he can lead the team to a World Cup win in the Caribbean in 2007? Maybe he will be awarded the highest civilian honour and hailed as one of the most popular Indians of all time. None of the above madness happened or is likely to happen when Leander Paes stepped on the court to play the US Open men’s doubles final or when he spearheads the Indian challenge in the Davis Cup. One can perhaps take a risk and suggest that when Leander, partnered by Martin Damm, played Bjorkman and Mirnyi at 2.30 am IST on September 10, the entire nation (except maybe a handful) was asleep.
Yet Leander continues to inspire, to amaze, to startle and to top it all win laurels for the nation with amazing regularity. At the Australian Open earlier this year, Leander finished runners-up. He followed it up with a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon and now the ultimate crown at the US Open. Yet, let alone the fanaticism over Sachin, Leander hasn’t ever managed to spawn the hype generated by Sania Mirza following her 4th round US Open appearance last year.
It is commonplace to suggest that Leander is an average tennis player who reaches another level when he dons India colours at the Davis Cup. While on the one hand, this is meant as praise — he continues to remain patriotic after 16 years of professional grind — on the other hand, it dwarfs all his other achievements. Seven Grand Slam titles in 13 final appearances, which has helped reinstate India in the world tennis map. If Andre Agassi can play the US Open as an American, play before his home crowd and make them weep, what makes us feel that Leander only plays the Davis Cup for India and all other tournaments for himself ? Or is this yet another example of the famous Indian treatment of its sporting icons?
For the record, it was almost impossible to follow the men’s doubles final at the US Open. It was played simultaneously with the second
men’s semi-final between Roddick and Youzhny and understandably all attention was focused on Roddick. Channel 9, which was showing the US Open here in Australia, was covering the Roddick match and did not bother to move on to the doubles even after it ended. The only way to keep tab of the proceedings was to follow the score on the Internet. And having downloaded the point tracker at the US Open site, it was a unique experience. You could hardly blink, for if you did you ran the risk of missing a point. And while staring at the computer in the wee hours I was amazed to see that the point tracker informed me of the score at least two seconds in advance of the television broadcast. Even before Roddick had won a point on television, the point tracker had been updated on the Net. It was like watching a deferred live telecast, even though the delay was only a matter of seconds. And this rather startling contribution of modern technology gave me a kind of perverse pleasure — I was able to follow Leander and shout for him seconds before the television broadcast would have enabled me to.
When Leander and Damm lost the first set tie-break 5-7 after leading 5-3, it was almost impossible to keep gazing at the computer screen. Suddenly the glare was affecting my vision; suddenly my bed seemed a more coveted place to return to. And when they came back to win the match in three sets, I was amazed to see that not one Indian 24/7 television web portal updated the news that instant. In fact, it was after two hours that the news of Leander winning his first US Open title was updated. Can we imagine a similar plight for Rahul Dravid and his men?
But so what if the news wasn’t updated? So what if people don’t throng the airports when Leander comes back to India next? So what if he continues to be hailed as a Davis Cup wonder? The truth is that Leander, along with Vishwanathan Anand, has been the best thing to happen to Indian sport in the last two decades. And when he finally retires, nothing, not even the frenzy associated with Indian cricket, can take this truth away from him. He will continue to be the most awe-inspiring Indian sporting icon of all time. For who else could say, “Most people see Davis Cup as pressure on their shoulders. For me Davis Cup puts pressure under my shoulders, pressure that lifts me up”. Maybe the US Open did so too when Leander saw some Indian tricolours being waved from the stands.