Serving tennis at Besant Nagar club

The vigorous strokes of rackets hitting tennis balls amid shouts of excitement and laughter can be heard from a distance. Once inside the Besant Nagar Club, the enthusiasm is as apparent as points earned from an ace.

Veterans sweat it out happily in a friendly doubles game, while the younger ones practise and train with keen focus and intent. This pleasant sight of different age-groups engaged in the increasingly popular game of tennis might seem to reflect the general mood among sport lovers across India. For Indian tennis has had a rousing start to the New Year, with the revelation of a promising new star in Somdev Devvarman and Australian Open crowns for Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Yuki Bhambri.

While Somdev became a household name overnight after reaching the final of the Chennai Open, Bhupathi and Mirza won the first ever Grand Slam mixed doubles title for an Indian pair, and Bhambri won the boys singles title at the Australian Open.

These triumphs augur well for the future of Indian tennis. They are bound to give a boost to the tennis scene in Chennai, which has a rich tradition of tennis and is home to some of the biggest Indian tennis stars such as Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan and the Amritraj brothers.

Within Chennai, Besant Nagar Club has much to offer in terms of promoting tennis. Started in 1976, the compact premises of the club include two doubles courts and a singles court, with excellent ultra cushion synthetic turfs, which were recently laid to replace the old clay courts.

V.S. Mani, the vice-president of the club claims proudly, “We have the best coaching facilities here in Chennai. We have also consistently produced many players who have succeeded at the national level, such as Ajay Selvaraj, Rishi Sridhar and V.M. Ranjeet.” He also mentions Somdev Devvarman’s association with the club. Somdev had trained briefly at the Besant Nagar Club, while finishing his schooling in Chennai.

The brand new greyish blue synthetic courts have made the club even more sought after. They were inaugurated by the legendary Vijay Amritraj on 31^st December, 2008. Mani says, “Entire courts were completely filled with children and adults and the event was covered very well by the media. Since then, there has been an increase in the number of children seeking training here.”

“The synthetic courts make play possible in all conditions. Earlier if it rained play wouldn’t be possible on the clay courts. But with synthetic courts, even if it rains, we have machines to soak up the water quickly.”

The club carried out the makeover without any sponsorship. Instead, it collected “lifetime membership fees” from its members. The amount differed for different age-groups, about Rs. 50,000 for those in their 40s, while it was half the amount for ones above 60 years of age.

There are 270 members of the club currently, with 180 of them children. Mani points out, “Some of the children are even shorter than the rackets.” They are trained by six coaches, some of whom have also been trained abroad. Rajiv Naidu, one of the coaches, had a stint under the renowned Nick Bolletierri, who has coached world champions such as Boris Becker, Andre Agassi and Monica Seles.

Talking about champions, some future Indian tennis stars could pretty well emerge from the pool of youngsters at Besant Nagar Club. Advaith, a ten-year-old who has been training at the club for seven months, says, “The training here is good and I come here regularly.” Anshuman, a 12-year-old, has been training for four years at the club while Kavin, a 10-year-old, started off at the age of four. When asked about their idols, names of Federer and Nadal pop up immediately. When it comes to Indian tennis stars, Somdev comes out a clear favourite among them. And they all aspire to be professionals and emulate their heroes.

The potential breeding ground for future tennis stars was just a “pond in the mid 1970s,” Mani says, until the Corporation of Chennai gave the land to V. Karuppan, an I.A.S officer, who set up the club “on a no profit-no loss basis purely to promote the game of tennis and other sports.” Lacking in area, the club has focused mainly on tennis, and also houses a gym.

Stressing its excellent facilities, Mani adds, “Ours is the only club in India where we use new balls every day for every court.” The club is also equipped with tennis ball machines, which enables sharp routines during training as it throws balls repetitively at the player from one end of the court .

Rigorous training aside, what lends a special charm to the Besant Nagar club is an atmosphere of bonhomie as individuals from all walks of life, from tiny tots to the elderly get together. As Mani says, “Sometimes we even have a child playing with his grandfather.” The spirit of the family and solidarity seem to drive the members of Besant Nagar Club forward.