Asian Games just another tournament but hopefully tennis medallists will be funded more: Somdev

The Indian tennis contingent returned with three medals at the ongoing Asian Games – Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won gold in men’s doubles while Ankita Raina and Prajnesh Gunneswaran got the bronze in women’s and men’s singles respectively.

However, the men’s teach coach Zeeshan Ali said that this was less than the projected five medals. India had won five medals including a mixed doubles gold at Incheon four years ago.

Raina became only the second Indian after Sania Mirza to win a women’s singles medal at Asian Games while Prajnesh’s medal was also a surprise as the expectations were hinged on second seed Ramkumar Ramanathan.

Prajnesh outlasted Kwon Soonwoo of South Korea 6-7 (2 ), 6-4, 7-6 (8) in a marathon quarter-final lasting almost four hours, to reach the semis where he went down to top seed Denis Istomin 2-6, 2-6. Raina, on the other hand, lost 4-6, 6-7 (6) in the semi-final to top seed and world No 34 from China Zhang Shuai.

Top seeds Bopanna and Sharan got their first men’s doubles beating Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4 in 52 minutes.

Sommdev Devvarman, who had won gold in both men’s singles and doubles at the 2010 Asian Games, said it was a commendable effort from India to win the three medals, including a dominant gold.

Devvarman, who is the tennis expert for Sony Pictures Networks during Asian Games, also said that the Asiad medals won’t necessarily be an indicator of similar success on the tour, which is a much tougher circuit.

It was nice to see India win three medals at the Asian Games. It was a fantastic effort from Rohan and Divij to win gold, even though it was expected of them. When you go as the top seed, it is not always easy to live up to the billing. But a very good effort to win their first gold medal at Asian Games, I’m happy for both of them.

Prajnesh also did well to win the bronze. But it is only fair to say that he got a bit lucky in the quarter-final with the whole conditions; the rain, the fact that he was cramping, and the strings breaking. He obviously did very well to get to that position, but luck plays a part in matches.

Ankita put in a good performance as well, she wasn’t expected to win a medal going in. Fortunately for her, she was ranked higher than whoever she played against. But once again, you have to do the work. All of us have played against opponents we have been favorites against and we have lost and vice versa. So at the end of the day, when they perform you have to give them credit. Good effort by three of them for sure.

It was unfortunate for Ramkumar to miss out, the men’s doubles of Ram and Sumit [Nagal] lost in the quarter-final but it was a close one. But Rohan and Ankita losing in the quarter-final of mixed doubles was probably a disappointment, because I feel like we would have been looking at another medal in mixed doubles.

But the loss could have happened for various reasons. Earlier in the day, Ankita seemed like she was potentially ill. I really didn’t know what happened but her energy levels could be down. But I think, apart from that these were good Games for us.

On Ramkumar’s singles loss

We play tennis week in and week out and we know going in to matches that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But the most important thing is that you give it your best effort as an athlete.

I am sure there were tactical errors, I am sure there were silly mistakes but there is one thing, I know Ramkumar very well, I have played against him several times and I have seen him. He is always going to his 100% every time he plays, especially when he plays for India and there is no doubt about that.

I don’t think we should talk about his failure, it happens. All of us jumped on the bandwagon when he reached the final in Newport, right?

He is coming from a very long season, if you look at the matches he has played this season, he is probably played the most.

On Leander Paes’s absence

It is hard to say that he would have won a medal in mixed doubles. What I can say is that he could not have done better than the other team in men’s doubles, as they won a gold medal. I don’t know how much of a difference his absence made, but it was definitely unfortunate. He doesn’t take part in singles, so his events would have men’s and mixed doubles. So it is hard to say if his absence made a difference, I just know that the boys in doubles did a great job and he could not have bettered that.

On the way forward for Ankita and Prajnesh

What people have to understand is that the Asian Games and the ATP/WTA tour are very, very different. Whether we like it or not, we have to objectively look at the kind of rankings of all the players who participate in the Asian Games. I think it is fair to say, without taking anything away from anyone, that this was probably one of the weakest Asian Games in recent history. But we can only play the cards we were dealt. Ankita did a fantastic job, she beat all the players she was ranked higher than. The one person who was not, she lost to because [Zhang] was obviously superior, not just on paper but also on the day.

Now to take this forward, it is not so simple. Tennis players have to play 30-35 weeks in a year. To say that someone will be successful on tour because they won an Asian Games medal, would be the same thing as saying that now that Ramkumar has lost, he won’t do good on tour.

The tour is a completely different place and in order to do well on the tour, you need to have a lot of different tools. Most of our players have a lot of experience on tour: the Challenger tour and the slightly lower levels.

So it is hard to say that Ankita will have a lot of success. What I can say is that she will be a lot more confident from this. She proved that and she has definitely improved, if you look at her rankings alone. She has started to play better and she is playing against better players.

But she is still ranked around 180s [world No 194 as of this week] and she has a long way to go. The climb from 180 to a 100 is a long one, just ask Ramkumar. It is hard to say that anyone here will have success because of the Asian Games performance, especially in a sport like tennis where we already have an established tour.

Prajnesh was beaten 6-2, 6-2 and he would not be very happy with the result. But it was a result of tiredness. He had cramped a day before and to come back from a cramp that severe and play the No 1 seed is not easy. Istomin has a lot of experience, he has been around for a very long time, he had beaten Djokovic at the Australian Open. He had beaten Prajnesh when they had played the last time for Australian Open qualification as well. I am not saying if he was fresh he could have won, but he would have played a better match for sure.

Nonetheless, this medal should put him on the map. Keep in mind he has been ignored for funding by the Indian government, which I think is incredibly unfair based on both his performance and ranking and in comparison to other players who he has performed better than. In one sense, this should have opened the eyes of people who are in charge of such things.

The way I look at this is that Asian Games is just another tournament and the people who have succeeded here will hopefully be funded a lot more. They will receive prize money from the central government as well as their state governments. That will be a boost and hopefully they can use the money well and if they do use it well, they will improve and win matches on tour, simple as that.

Overall, good effort from both singles players but regardless of the medal, it’s time to get back on the tour and try and improve your games and rankings.

As told to Zenia D’cunha