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There was a time when India was almost guaranteed a place in the elite of the tennis world. The exploits of Ramanathan Krishnan, Jaideep Mukherjea and Premjit Lal in the fifties and sixties followed by the exploits of the Amritraj brothers, Ramesh Krishnan, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the seventies, eighties and nineties saw India pose a formidable challenge in the Davis Cup for almost half a century the highlights being an entry into the Challenge Round in 1966 followed by a place in the final in 1984 and 1987.
Over the last decade India had the mortification of being demoted to the zonal rounds. The retirement of Ramesh Krishnan, the reluctance of Paes and Bhupathi to play singles and the inability of the young breed to live up to the performances of their predecessors saw India repeatedly falter in their bid to make it back to the World Group. They lost to Italy 4-1 in the first round in 1998 and since then have been languishing in the qualifying rounds.
Now it appears that happy days are here again. The 4-1 victory over South Africa at Johannesburg has put India back in the World Group. The trick now is to stay there. That is easier said than done for the competition among the 16 elite nations is intense. But there are factors in India's favour as well. The foremost is of course the form displayed by Somdev Devvarman. He certainly is the best thing to happen to Indian tennis since Paes announced his arrival by winning the Junior Wimbledon title in 1990.
About a year ago Somdev was ranked around 320 in the ATP ratings. His superb exploits since then have seen him displace Sania Mirza as Indian tennis' great big hope. The 24-year-old Indian based in the US bids fair to be the standard-bearer in the second decade of the new millennium.
Somdev started to make a mark late in 2008 but it was his showing in the Chennai Open in January where he quite unexpectedly made the final that marked him out as India's leading hope for the future. Further proof of his rising stature was provided in the Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei where he spearheaded the Indian challenge, won both his singles and ensured that the team was just a match away from a World Group play off tie. The two singles victories against South Africa must certainly be his crowning achievement and should inspire him to even greater deeds in the future. It is important for Indian tennis that Somdev makes it big. As the Indian coach SP Misra said it is never easy to win Davis Cup matches abroad and Somdev has won away ties both against Chinese Taipei and South Africa.
Somdev's ability to score meritorious victories over players ranked far above him around the ATP circuit was seen during the Chennai Open when he registered successive wins over Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic on his way to a title clash with Marin Cilic the tall Croat ranked 27th in the world and seeded third in the tournament. Somdev ranked around 200 at the time fought it out spiritedly for about two hours before going down 4-6, 6-7. This creditable showing saw Somdev climb up to about 150 in the rankings. In the Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei he was pitted against World No 59 Yen-Hsun Lu in the first of the reverse singles. India were leading 2-1 at this stage with Somdev having won his singles against Ti Chen on the opening day only for Rohan Bopanna to go down to Yen-Hsun Lu. There was no guarantee that Bopanna would fare any better against Ti Chen so there was some pressure on Somdev to seal India's victory. But against an opponent ranked nearly 100 places above him Somdev completed a pretty straightforward 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 victory to steer India to the clash with Australia which ended in a walk over with the visitors refusing to come to Chennai citing security fears. His ideal temperament was further cemented by the decisive singles victory over Rik de Voest which clinched the tie against South Africa. Tailing by two sets to love and down a break in the third Somdev staged an unbelievable recovery to win in five sets.
In keeping with his growing reputation Somdev reached a career highest ranking of 127 in mid-year and is currently around the 130-mark. To be candid the way he is shaping he can only get better. Add to Somdev's emergence the rise of Rohan Bopana, the promise of Yuki Bhambri and the old faithful doubles team of Lee and Hesh and there are encouraging signs that better days are ahead for Indian tennis.
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More Views by Partab Ramchand