RISING STAR IN INDIAN TENNIS
by SUBROTO SIRKAR
Ramesh Krishnan is a quiet, pleasant-faced young man who likes swimming, listening to his varied tapes of music, reading and rereading books of great tennis players, and-so his Davis Cup teammates say-eating a lot of rice at meals. He is probably the most talked-about teen-age sportsman in India today: sports lovers all over the land are wondering how he will fare in the tough, highly competitive world of pro tennis. For young Krishnan, who turned 17 this June, is not merely India's national champion, he has also earned a mild kind of international fame by winning one of the keenest junior competitions, the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) national Boys' 16 singles. When the boy from Madras won this prestigious title in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in August last year, he added his name to an impressive list of past
winners that included Wimbledon titlist Jimmy Connors, Cliff Richey (who in 1970 was the first Grand Prix season champion), and U.S. Davis Cup players Dick Stockton and Erik van Dillen. Not just that: the young Indian became the first non-American to win the Under16 singles. And guess who was the first foreigner to win the U.S. Boys' 18 title? None other than a carrot-haired Australian left-hander named Rodney George Laver, back in 1956. Laver, of course, went on to become the finest player of his era, and is an acknowledged all-time great. It may be hazardous to suggest, on the basis of his Kalamazoo victory, that Ramesh Krishnan might attain similar status. Nevertheless, his feat demands attention-for its potential. The question is: How far can he go? In the Tamilian tradition, the name ofIndia's young champion
should be K. Ramesh. However, tutor and educated Ramesh well following a recent trend, in the game's basics, as he had Krishnan senior has made his taught Ramanathan Krishnan. own name the family title. When Ramesh was four he used Yet whether he is Ramesh K. to play on the clay court at home or Krishnan R., jr, the Madras with a racket that had its handle collegian is destined-for some sawn short, but after some time years, at least-to play his tennis . he lost interest and began serious in the shadow of his illustrious tennis only at 10, in 1971. He father. Ramanathan Krishnan, a first came on the national scene contemporary of Rod Laver and in 1973-74 when, at the national now 41, is considered the finest championships in Pune, he won tennis player produced by India. the Boys' 14 singles (in tennis He was in the unofficial world lingo, Boys' 16 or Under-16 top 10 ran kings four times and means 16 or below in the year of renowned for his delicate touch the competition). At the time artistry, especially in his mastery Ramesh, never tall for his age, of th~ dropshot. As one of the was on the plump side, smiled world's foremost amateurs, a lot and blinked even more: Ramanathan Krishnan excelled Off the court he hardly looked on all surfaces. a tennis player, but on it his Ramesh's first coach, how- talent was evident. In 1975 Ramesh made his ever, was not his father but his grandfather. T. Ramanathan first trip abroad, with the official had been Madras State cham- junior squad under national pion in the thirties and nation- coach Akht~r Ali. That gave him ally ranked No.3 in 1939. Such a taste of European conditions, playing ability apart, he is a good and after a second tour the next