The Hindu 26-04-12 The School Of Power Tennis
Three Davis Cuppers and five national champions. Well,
that is the remarkable achievement of the School of Power Tennis run by
the untiring coach Canjeevaran Venkatrao Nagraj at RRC Grounds in
Secunderabad.
And, clearly, 24-year-old Jagadeesan Vishnuvardhan stands tall amongst them by virtue of his consistency.
For
the record, Vishnuvardhan (2008), A. S. Suresh Krishna (2010)and Saketh
Myneni (2011) were the Senior National Champions while, P. C.Vignesh
was the Runner-up in the 2009 edition.
The three Davis Cuppers from this stable were Susheel Narla, Punna Vishal and Vishnuvardhan.
Now,
Vishnuvardhan believes that he steps into a difficult and testing
crucial phase of transition from the ‘fringe player' status to gaining
some sort of permanency in the Indian Davis Cup squad.
“For
me, it has been a real struggle in life and in sport for the last five
years and only since last two years, things have certainly improved for
the good,” says the tall Vishnuvardhan, who was one of the reserves of
the Indian Davis Cup squad for the recent encounter against Uzbekistan.
“When
I started playing tennis, except Wimbledon, I never knew about any
other Grand Slams. As I started competing and winning the age group
events, I dreamt of playing for India in Davis Cup,” recalls the
soft-spoken Vishnu, who lost the match in the reverse singles tie
against Japan in Davis Cup last year but won the hearts of many critics
with his striking performance on the tennis courts.
By
all means Vishnu was one of those players who struggled to find the
right platform after winning the National under-18 title. “That was the
phase, when those keen to play in men's circuit had very limited
opportunities as the focus was more on international events which were
beyond our reach invariably,” he recalls.
What are
the grey areas of concern now? “Well, when a Rafael Nadal says that he
has to keep improving his fitness levels, it reminds of lesser mortals
like us about the significance of staying fit over a longer period of
time,” says Vishnu with a big smile.
“I am working a
lot with Nagraj Sir (coach) on my defence, as I am essentially a very
attacking player. Now, I am trying to master the art of controlling the
pace of the game by sharpening my defence,” he pointed out.
Vishnu
says the feeling of being close to the ambience of a Davis Cup match is
in itself a huge experience. “Being in the company of Leander and
Mahesh has helped tremendously as you tend to pick up new tricks every
time you run into them. They are such great players and very affable,”
he explains.
Vishnu rates his winning the National
under-16 title in Hyderabad as the decisive moment in his career. He
played the event at the insistence of his coach C V Nagraj, as he was
not very keen to play the tournament.
“After winning
that National title, I realised that I had the potential to dream big in
tennis and truly justified that my coach can spot the potential talent
and goal which we players tend to miss clearly,” says the articulate
tennis star from Hyderabad.
“Playing in the 2010
Guangzhou Asian Games mixed doubles with Sania Mirza and winning the
silver medal, and winning the bronze medal for men's team event were
clearly the high-points of my career,” he looks back with justifiable
pride.
“I was nervous definitely then. But, thanks to
Sania and the men's team for their support, it turned out to be a very
memorable Asian Games for me,” says Vishnu.
“That
Asian Games also provided a huge opportunity of meeting one of my
favourites - ace cueist and former World Champion Geet Sethi. I have
read a lot of his books and what impressed me the most is his simplicity
and the way he made someone like me feel so comfortable in the first
meeting itself,” says an excited Vishnuvardhan.
“I
hate the wrong calls especially in crunch situations as they take the
match away from you. And, you just can't do anything about those calls,”
he says with a tinge of seriousness to a query.
An
executive in the Human Resources Wing of ONGC and a huge fan of the
great Pete Sampras, Vishnuvardhan is clearly in the mood to look ahead.
“There is no end to learning. I am aware that this is the most decisive
phase of my tennis career and I am willing to go that extra yard in
terms oftraining and make a mark by being more consistent,” he says.
“Well,
you cannot even think of replacing someone like Mahesh (Bhupathi) and
Leander (Paes),” clearly reminding that he has a long way to go.
