It’s Tennis, and it’s Love All

 15-July-2024

The day after Wimbledon finals is a good time to reflect on Tennis .

Because …. 

If it's tennis, it's got to be LOVE-ALL. 

From early school and all the way up to college, I was a big tennis fan. It was my second favourite sport. 

Not without reason -Numerous exciting things happened in tennis in that period.

There was also a pragmatic , supply side driven reason to it - Tennis was one of the few sports available on direct telecast in India that time. 

In those school and college days , when I did see tennis, it was amazing. It inspired me to take up the sport and go for coaching with my brand new grey and sky blue Slazenger racquet, which my father had got from London. My coach quickly realised the ( lack of) talent and he would banish me to wall practice on most days . 

I realised it as well, and decided to shift gears - making a career not out of playing tennis, but rather, watching tennis. 

As I reflect on my tennis watching career, there are some events still give me the goosebumps. 

Here is a list of some of those - 

1. A 17 year old school boy named Boris Becker diving all over Wimbledon centre court to stun Kevin Curran in the finals , thereby becoming a hero to millions of adoring schoolboys and a crush for many girls. There was mourning when Peter Doohan knocked him

Out in the second round of Wimbledon in 1987. �Boris won many more titles, and there was a time he and Stefan Edberg monopolised Wimbledon finals for several years in a row.  

2. Martina Navratilova continuing her dominance of women's tennis like no one had done before. Winning title after title and completely dominating Wimbledon for years on end. Her rivalry with Chris Evert ( Lloyd, for some time) was one for the ages. With the ascendancy of Steffi Graf , she was under pressure , but still managed to defy age and put it across Steffi occasionally , especially at Wimbledon. 

3. Pat Cash, the underdog Aussie, with his cheque hairband he wore because he was a motor racing fan, breaking tradition and jumping over the Wimbledon stands to hug his family after putting it across Ivan Lendl. He was the first person to do so at Wimbledon, and when it happened in 1987 for the first time , it was stunning and unexpected . It was also a year that Wimbledon prize money was substantially increased . Next week, the cover of the Sportstar magazine said - 

Wimbledon is Cash. 

4. Ramesh Krishnan , full of grace and class, leading India's charge, ( with support from Vijay Amritraj ) to take his country to an improbable victory against Australia in the Davis Cup Semi finals to put India into the finals against Sweden. Sweden 5-0 ed India in the finals at Gothenburg , but India won everyone’s heart by playing way above their rankings and making it to the finals . 

5. Steffi Graf , coached by her father when she was a child ( and gifted a Barbie doll as a child every time she played good Tennis ) , putting an end to Martina Navratilova's dominance of Women’s through grit, power and stupendous will power. Steffi's subsequent rivalry with the flamboyant Argentine Gabriela Sabatini replacing the Martina vs Chris Evert one.   Steffi 's golden slam of 1988, when she won the four grand slams and also the Olympic gold medal at the Seoul Olympics. 

6. Leander Paes gritting his way through the Olympic men's singles draw  to put India on the medal podium at the 1996 Atlanta Games. It have India a medal, and also firmly established Leander as a hero who would play far above himself when it came to representing his country .

7. Aranxta Sanchez adding Vicario ( her mother's surname ) to her name after winning her first grand slam after she beat Steffi Graf at the French Open singles finals .

8. Monica Seles, full of power and precision, shockingly halted in her tracks by a lunatic spectator who stabbed her during a break in an ATP tour match.

9. A teenaged Michael Chang, unknown and unheralded , running through the French open draw in his second appearance at the tournament ( after being decimated by John McEnroe in his first ) . 

10. Lindsay Devenport, world number 1 with a great world view, calling her exploits on the tennis court 'just a job like any other'. 

11. Jennifer Capriati, in her mid teens when she won her first grand slam,  later becoming an unfortunate victim to drugs. 

12. Andre Agassi , living his fathers dream through tennis . Subsequently, his famed rivalry with the uber cool Pete Sampras. Years later , marrying Steffi Graf to become tennis' first couple .  Later, Modelling for the Kodak Rebel camera, a product name that went with his rebellious image .

13. The Leander Paes- Mahesh Bhupathi doubles domination to give The Indian pair many grand slam doubles titles. Later, Leander’s  partnership with Martina Navratilova , then in her 40s, to win the Mixed doubles title at Wimbledon. 

14. Other notable mentions in my tennis (watching ) career - Jimmy Connors , in the latter stages of his career , pumping adrenaline and firing up the crowds. �- Pete Sampras, always so cool and doing the job like  a pro�- Michael Stitch ( the next German after Becker to win W men’s singles ) �- Mats Wilander ( won his first Grand slam at 17) 

All of this was before the era of Fed and Rafa , before the Willams sisters made grand slams family property . 

Kim Clijsters, the young Belgian mother, timing her baby's food and sleep timings , to win a grand slam in between baby care duties, remains my standout tennis moment of the past decade. 

All the events I mentioned above happened much after two of the most talked about matches of all time had been played several years ago - I could not watch them for two simple reasons - the first one happened before I was born, and the second one when I was too young to understand any sport . 

Some time ago, I saw a movie on both those matches . 

'Borg vs McEnroe' is the name of the first movie, and 'Battle of the Sexes' is the second. 

The first one is about the 1980 Wimbledon finals - Bjorn Borg, 25 years of age, playing for his fifth consecutive ( yes- consecutive ) title and under tremendous pressure to keep scaling the peaks he had created for himself. 

John McEnroe- the young , brash, invective spewing artist with the tennis racquet , a worthy challenger. 

The Wimbledon final between the two is often touted as the greatest tennis match of all time - Mac won the first set, Borg the next two, Borg had several match points in the fourth that McEnroe saved and managed to take the game to the decisive fifth after one of the longest tie breakers in a Wimbledon final. 

During a break in the fourth set, with the game on the edge, Borg notices McEnroe very tensed up. 

He tells McEnroe that he ( Mac) has been doing great and he should keep playing his normal game. 

Borg s ice cool temperament and calmness finally prevails in the fifth set to give him his fifth consecutive crown. 

Despite the fierce rivalry, Bjorn reaches out to John and they develop great respect for each other . the entire narrative of a media hype around the rivalry melts into shared respect and sportsmanship when they interact one on one, Person to person. ( subsequently, they became great friends and Borg became the best man at McEnroe 's wedding ). 

The second movie is about the 'battle of the sexes'; a tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. 

Riggs, once the men's world number 1, at 55 years of age in 1973, challenged the then women's champion ( World No.1 ) 

 , Billie Jean King , to a match saying men were far superior to women in sport. 

Billie Jean, who had put her career at stake demanding equal prize money for women and men player's, believed she was not just playing for herself and against Riggs, but for equality and against all forms of male chauvinism. 

Beside tennis, Billie Jean, married for many years , also discovers her own preferences and sexuality; and that becomes one more societal taboo to fight against . 

The tennis match is therefore not just a match - it's about one extraordinary person fighting against societal perceptions of gender and against societal prejudices around the LGBT community. 

Billie Jean wins. 

With these two movies seen, I am glad that I have seen the stories around two of the most extraordinary tennis matches that preceded my tennis watching career. 

And they reinforced the joy of sport , in its purest , most entertaining form, and added a new dimension to my tennis watching career. 

It’s Love All.

The little birdie who stole ( and broke) my heart

Outside our front verandah in Chandigarh is a small garden. It has a few big trees and some small ones .  

Little birds nestle on the large trees. The air is filled with their chirping, especially early morning and in the evening. 

On this tree, Mama bird and Papa bird gave birth to two  babies. Two little baby birds. Little birdies. Baby bird 1 and Baby bird 2. Both very very tiny. Born just a few days ago. 

For some reason, the little babies fell down and lay on the ground. They were injured, but alive. 

My sister noticed them and called for a veterinary doctor. The vet came in and examined them. 

Baby bird 1 had a fractured leg. Baby bird 2 had ruffled feathers but no fracture .  

Both seemed to be in pain : the vet gave them medication and gave us a set of instructions - he said, “Don’t leave them in the open till they have more strength, they could be preyed upon by other birds, or cats / dogs. Keep them hydrated”. 

As the vet was examining the babies , Mama bird and Papa bird both hovered around. They perched themselves on a nearby branch and made a lot of noise. In a while, they realised that we were not harming the babies but were trying to help. 

A few hours later, Baby bird 1 succumbed. The poor little thing could not make it. 

This spurred us to put far greater attention to Baby bird 2 .  Following the vet’s instructions , putting it inside the house at night and covered it with a nice , airy netted bucket so that there was enough flow of air and good visibility from inside. 

Over the next few days, The morning routines evolved. Every morning , we would put Baby bird 2 in the open portion on our verandah. Mama bird and Papa bird would notice us getting the little one out in the open and feed the baby all day, take care of it . 

There is a pomegranate tree in our garden- they would pierce the pomegranates with their beak, take out little bits of pomegranate seed, and put it in the beak of the baby.  They would also get other food and put it in the baby’s beak. It was surreal to see both birds taking care of the young one, doing their very best. 

They would sit around all day, and make those calls encouraging Baby bird 2 to buck up. The baby began to eat , and bit by bit started gaining strength .  It would start flapping its wings and practice it all day. As it flapped it’s wings, Mama bird and Papa bird would give out encouraging calls . The little birdie started responding with a voice that became less feeble by the day. 

It started jumping around a  little bit. And practising small little flights . 

Watching this spectacle of nature unfold in front of my eyes, I was reminded of the beautiful poem that I had learnt in school . 

Little Birdie

———————

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

What does little birdie say,

In her nest at peep of day?

“Let me fly,” says little birdie—

“Mother, let me fly away.”

“Birdie, rest a little longer,

Till the little wings are stronger.”

So she rests a little longer,

Then she flies away.

———

The baby bird was growing. However, It’s legs continued to remain weak and wobbly. The weather outside continued to be very harsh, with temperatures crossing  45 degree C during the day. I was worried that baby bird was not having enough water or hydration. 

Then, yesterday, it learnt to drink water. We had put water in a small container and it learnt to drink by itself : 

I was thrilled. So were Many of us in the family who had become very deeply connected to the little birdie over the past few days. 

Last night , we got it indoors, as we had been doing for the past several nights , with the plan to get it back into the rhythm and care of its parents in the morning . 

This morning, however, we woke up but little birdie didn’t . We saw it lying lifeless. 

My heart broke. So did the hearts of all in the family who had become very connected to little birdie. 

My sadness amplified when I thought of the parents, Mama bird and Papa bird. I thought it might be a good idea to not let the parents figure it out . Seeing their little birdie lifeless might be heartbreaking for them. Not seeing it might make them believe that little birdie had learnt to fly and had flown away. 

We stay out of sight of Mama bird and Papa bird and get little birdie buried a little far away. 

On the other side of the verandah, Mama bird and Papa bird are flying around, making the rounds, giving their calls, looking for little birdie, and to commence their morning nursing routine. 

I cry. 

I wish there was a way for me to hug Papa bird and Mama bird and share my memories of little birdie. And share my pain of seeing it fly away to the other world. 

On the other hand, I think that just like all parents , Mama bird and Papa bird might be believing that their little one had grown ‘enough’ and had flown away to its next phase of life. With this belief , they would perhaps move ahead with their own life, knowing they did the best they could for their little birdie and she had indeed flown away.