The post is inspired by this brillaint piece from Sidvee
Doordarshan used to give us live Wimbledon tennis in the 90s and every kid had to choose a favorite. In the early 90s, kids my age (around 8 - 10 years) would know only 2 - 3 ladies who play tennis. Among them Monica Seles used to wear a skirt while playing and Steffi Graf used to wear shorts. It was a simple enough formula for me then, skirts > shorts implies root for Seles. Shortly after taking the decision to support her, she got stabbed by a Steffi fan and I continued to hate her for many years (until she got married to Andre). During that time I would support anyone who would challenge Steffi. So from Arantxa Sanchez to Martina Hingis, anyone who could beat Graf would be my favorite. A few years on, something happened to the women's game, first with ladies like Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mouresmo and then the Williams sister. The finesse of the ladies game gave way to brute strength and I have lost all interest in the ladies game even till today.
In the Men's game, again the choice in early 90s was simple. Agassi with his denim shorts and flowing hair was the closest to the Bollywood heroes I used to worship then, so rooting for him came naturally. Then Sampras entered. There was something about his demeanor which captured me. By then I was slightly older (14 - 15 perhaps) and had developing my own personality. I too had started fancying myself as a calm, quiet, no-nonsense stoic (in short Deewar's Amitabh Bachhan) by then and I saw Sampras as a perfect embodiment of those values. Him breaking down in that Australian open match against Courier after someone in the crowd said, "Win it for your coach" is among my favorite moments in all of sport. Jim came up to him in all sincerity and offered to finish it the next day. Pete for whatever reason didn't like his offer and finished the game with booming aces while his eyes were filled with tears. The incident made me a lifelong Pete fan though I still liked Agassi.
When Pete's era was ending, I wasn't so sure about whom to support for some time. Safin's rage on the court, his Safinettes off the court and again probably my age and mental state at that time made him a good candidate. But then he turned out to be too erratic and refused to grow up while I had. Then Federer grabbed my attention as someone from the Martina Hingis country. After him winning the Wimbledon, it was an easy passing of the batton from Sampras to Federer which continued for some years. Until all the talk of him being the greatest player of all time started doing the rounds and for some reason it appeared to me that Federer had started thinking of himself as someone bigger than the game. They probably used to talk about Sampras also in the same way but I was too young or there wasn't any internet in those days to drive me sick of all the hype. During the same period, all the talk of Tendulkar being the greatest of all time had started drawing me away to an unassuming guy in Rahul Dravid who was consistently delivering the results. But who would be my Rahul Dravid of Tennis? Far too early in Federer's career he had started talking about the 15 grand slams landmark. His frustrations and "It's killing me" tears when he was stuck at 13 were akin to Sachin's in the recent hundred 100s hoopla where the purpose of playing every game was to get Sachin closer to that magical (and somewhat imaginary) landmark. Him putting on that shirt with the number "15" on the back after eventually getting there after beating Roddick in an epic final proved to everyone that the number meant more to him than it probably should. Federer is still the greatest exponent of his game to me just like Sachin and I love watching both Sachin and Federer in full flow to enjoy their sheer cratsmanship, their poetry in motion. Its almost as if both these men were designed by Gods to play their respective games. Anyhow, I digressed a little. Lets rewind a bit to the age when I was still searching for my Rahul Dravid of tennis. People like Roddick, Nalbandian, Hewitt had made it clear to me very early that they went into games against Federer as his fans, almost resigned to their fate of eventually losing to him. Enter Rafa. The warrior. The one who chased every ball like Hewitt but only with twice the speed. He would run half the length of court to celebrate a crucial point with a big "Vamos" cry. Tennis had not seen anything like him. Probably he was sent by Gods again just to prove to the mankind that every superman has his Kryptonite. For me Rafa is first and foremost a saviour. He saved me from an era of tennis where nothing seemed interesting as the game had stopped being competitive. Its great to look at the poetry of Federer's play but sports is not about artistry. Sports is Art meets War. You play hard, you play ugly, but you play fair and you play to win. Rafa epitomizes all of that. He like Dravid became not just my inspiration in sport, but inspiration in life. As someone who always lacked the natural talent for anything but was prepared to fight it out, these were the two individuals I look up to for inspiration when I was down.
Now the Fedtards or the Internet Sachin militia might want to have a go at me for my honest opinions above. So, in the spirit of my heroes that I just talked about, I only have this to tell you: "Bring it on".
- rajesh@cricketbakchod.com
Doordarshan used to give us live Wimbledon tennis in the 90s and every kid had to choose a favorite. In the early 90s, kids my age (around 8 - 10 years) would know only 2 - 3 ladies who play tennis. Among them Monica Seles used to wear a skirt while playing and Steffi Graf used to wear shorts. It was a simple enough formula for me then, skirts > shorts implies root for Seles. Shortly after taking the decision to support her, she got stabbed by a Steffi fan and I continued to hate her for many years (until she got married to Andre). During that time I would support anyone who would challenge Steffi. So from Arantxa Sanchez to Martina Hingis, anyone who could beat Graf would be my favorite. A few years on, something happened to the women's game, first with ladies like Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mouresmo and then the Williams sister. The finesse of the ladies game gave way to brute strength and I have lost all interest in the ladies game even till today.
In the Men's game, again the choice in early 90s was simple. Agassi with his denim shorts and flowing hair was the closest to the Bollywood heroes I used to worship then, so rooting for him came naturally. Then Sampras entered. There was something about his demeanor which captured me. By then I was slightly older (14 - 15 perhaps) and had developing my own personality. I too had started fancying myself as a calm, quiet, no-nonsense stoic (in short Deewar's Amitabh Bachhan) by then and I saw Sampras as a perfect embodiment of those values. Him breaking down in that Australian open match against Courier after someone in the crowd said, "Win it for your coach" is among my favorite moments in all of sport. Jim came up to him in all sincerity and offered to finish it the next day. Pete for whatever reason didn't like his offer and finished the game with booming aces while his eyes were filled with tears. The incident made me a lifelong Pete fan though I still liked Agassi.
When Pete's era was ending, I wasn't so sure about whom to support for some time. Safin's rage on the court, his Safinettes off the court and again probably my age and mental state at that time made him a good candidate. But then he turned out to be too erratic and refused to grow up while I had. Then Federer grabbed my attention as someone from the Martina Hingis country. After him winning the Wimbledon, it was an easy passing of the batton from Sampras to Federer which continued for some years. Until all the talk of him being the greatest player of all time started doing the rounds and for some reason it appeared to me that Federer had started thinking of himself as someone bigger than the game. They probably used to talk about Sampras also in the same way but I was too young or there wasn't any internet in those days to drive me sick of all the hype. During the same period, all the talk of Tendulkar being the greatest of all time had started drawing me away to an unassuming guy in Rahul Dravid who was consistently delivering the results. But who would be my Rahul Dravid of Tennis? Far too early in Federer's career he had started talking about the 15 grand slams landmark. His frustrations and "It's killing me" tears when he was stuck at 13 were akin to Sachin's in the recent hundred 100s hoopla where the purpose of playing every game was to get Sachin closer to that magical (and somewhat imaginary) landmark. Him putting on that shirt with the number "15" on the back after eventually getting there after beating Roddick in an epic final proved to everyone that the number meant more to him than it probably should. Federer is still the greatest exponent of his game to me just like Sachin and I love watching both Sachin and Federer in full flow to enjoy their sheer cratsmanship, their poetry in motion. Its almost as if both these men were designed by Gods to play their respective games. Anyhow, I digressed a little. Lets rewind a bit to the age when I was still searching for my Rahul Dravid of tennis. People like Roddick, Nalbandian, Hewitt had made it clear to me very early that they went into games against Federer as his fans, almost resigned to their fate of eventually losing to him. Enter Rafa. The warrior. The one who chased every ball like Hewitt but only with twice the speed. He would run half the length of court to celebrate a crucial point with a big "Vamos" cry. Tennis had not seen anything like him. Probably he was sent by Gods again just to prove to the mankind that every superman has his Kryptonite. For me Rafa is first and foremost a saviour. He saved me from an era of tennis where nothing seemed interesting as the game had stopped being competitive. Its great to look at the poetry of Federer's play but sports is not about artistry. Sports is Art meets War. You play hard, you play ugly, but you play fair and you play to win. Rafa epitomizes all of that. He like Dravid became not just my inspiration in sport, but inspiration in life. As someone who always lacked the natural talent for anything but was prepared to fight it out, these were the two individuals I look up to for inspiration when I was down.
Now the Fedtards or the Internet Sachin militia might want to have a go at me for my honest opinions above. So, in the spirit of my heroes that I just talked about, I only have this to tell you: "Bring it on".
- rajesh@cricketbakchod.com
