REMEMBERING PREMJIT LAL by Partab Ramchand Oct 21, 2009
Had he lived, Premjit Lal would have turned 70 on Tuesday. But it is now almost a year since he passed away. In his death Indian tennis lost one of its finest players ever. Lal first emerged on the international circuit in 1958 when he made it to the final of the Wimbledon junior event. In the early sixties he was a bundle of energy, bristling with talent and power packed tennis. With Ramanathan Krishnan and Jaideep Mukherjea he formed the trio that carried Indian tennis ahead internationally. Towards the end of the decade with the exit of Krishnan, Lal became the spearhead of India’s challenge in Davis Cup play and one remembers how he won both his singles in 1970 against Ray Ruffels and Dick Crealy to shape India’s first-ever win over Australia at Bangalore while notching up several other notable victories. He also kept the Indian challenge alive at Wimbledon in the immediate post-Krishnan era and in 1969 he stretched the great Rod Laver to five sets in the second round. In a memorable encounter Lal won the first two sets 6-3, 6-4 only to lose the next three to the ultimate champion who went on to complete his second Grand Slam that year. Lal put together an impressive Davis Cup record, winning 34 singles matches and losing 20, and alongside won 24 doubles matches while losing 12. His best Grand Slam singles performance was reaching the round of 16 at the 1962 Australian Championships. In doubles, his best Grand Slam performance was reaching the quarterfinals at the 1962 Australian Championships and the 1973 Wimbledon, both with Mukerjea. He was an Arjuna awardee and a four time National champion. Lal’s game was based on power which was very different to Krishnan’s artistry. He had a powerful serve, volleyed with unerring accuracy, was a deft mover on court and the solidity of his groundstrokes posed problems aplenty for the best of opponents. He was the epitome of fitness and cut a handsome figure on the court while being charming off it. Indeed he was often mobbed at Wimbledon by female fans. An old timer once recalled that Lal was the only player with the exception of Bjorn Borg a few years later to be given police escorts at Wimbledon. Unfortunately Lal’s later years were not happy ones. His seemingly idyllic marriage to Georgina broke up. His son Dev who was shaping up well unfortunately could not live up to his early promise. Then following a serious accident in 1992 Lal was confined to a wheelchair. I well remember how the Amritraj brothers Vijay and Anand flew down to Madras a couple of years after the mishap and arranged for an exhibition match the proceeds of which were given to Lal. A grateful Lal while receiving the purse could not hide back his tears. On December 31, 2008, Lal met his friends at lunch and went to sleep in the afternoon. In the evening, he suddenly started bleeding from the mouth and died at his Kolkata residence. Poignantly none of his three children attended the funeral. Son Dev and daughter Joya had settled in the USA while Rohit, son of his second wife who was in Mumbai was also not present. But members of Kolkata’s tennis fraternity including former Indian captain Naresh Kumar, Mukherea and Akhtar Ali and Lal’s younger brother Ajit and sister Madhavi Sukhtankar were present among others.