A tournament no one watched!

“An India-New Zealand T20 screening would probably have attracted a bigger crowd”, said one of my friends as we entered the SDAT stadium in Nungambakkam where the finals of the Chennai Open was being held. Coloured empty seats stared at us as we walked around the court to the covered part of the stands. It would be a safe conclusion to say that the free tickets had not incentivized the cricket hardened Chennaites. The fact that India were engaged in a thrilling chase with the New Zealand cricket team in a series decider probably did not help. Nor the fact that two local boys had crashed out in the semis; one of them despite being top seeded. The stadium itself seemed to be in good condition, except for the visible disuse for over god knows how long. There was a thick layer of dust over the seats on either side of the court. With proper maintenance and regular matches, the stadium would probably look much better. Despite the unimpressive backstory, this WAS an ATP Challenger event. At the end of the day’s play, rankings would change and there was a modest cash prize to be taken home.

The game itself, was one of dichotomy. The Frenchman, Corentin Moutet and his opponent, Andrew Harris from Australia were chalk and cheese. Even before the match started, the difference in physique was obvious. At around 5 foot 7, Moutet was considerably smaller than Harris who stood at 6 feet. But the first few points quite clearly showed the disparity between the two players. Moutet was agile. He waded across the court with ease and grace. He returned with hawkish precision, and sometimes slowed down the pace with well-placed backhand slices. One player was significantly better than the other. And almost everyone in the stadium realized that within the first 15 minutes. Harris relied on power to send the balls deep into Moutet’s side. But the instinctive baseliner seemed more than happy running behind the baseline and sending back thundering forehands. The Aussie indeed had a beautiful backhand. The single hander looked pristine, but rarely hit the mark. And the low slices from the other end simply did not find its way back. Moutet also did not hesitate to make moves towards the net, which almost always fetched him a point. He finally broke Harris and made it 4-3. After a consolidating service game, Moutet broke again to take the first set 6-3. It might not qualify as a complete battering, but only one man changed his sweaty t-shirt at the end of the first set. And it was not the man who probably skis in the French Alps.

The second set was an even more dominant affair. A confident Moutet raced away to a 4-0 lead, and the audience now turned firmly in favour of the Australian. Shouts of ‘c’mon Harris’ could be heard from different quarters. But his temperament came under severe scrutiny as he let out a volley of screams after a couple of unforced errors. At one point, he threw his racquet onto the ground. Clearly, Harris could feel the game slipping away from him.  But then came the most engaging passage of play in the match. Spurred on by the crowd, Harris made a commendable comeback. He held serve at 4-0 and broke back to make it 4-2. With two back to back games, Harris seemed to have arrested the momentum that Moutet had been gathering. But the Frenchman’s superior technique once again came to the fore as he placed balls deep into Harris’ court. The elegant backhand still lacked efficiency as many of his returns went wide or hit the net. Moutet held his serve to make it 5-2. Harris almost lost the second set 6-2 as he faced a break point in the 8^th game. But he held his nerve to stay in the match.

At 5-3, Moutet had the championship within his grasps. Harris managed to save one match point in the 9^th game, but it just delayed the inevitable. Harris’ slice return fell tamely at the bottom of the net, and the ordeal was over. On his part Moutet was quite measured in his celebration. The two men met at the net and shook hands. Harris probably could have made a better match out of this, but tennis is often dictated by the stars, and they were categorically in the Frenchman’s favour.

The young men were draped in traditional silk dhotis during the award ceremony, and the presence of India’s legend Vijay Amritraj added some flair to the proceedings. Mr Amrtitraj made sure that all of his 007 swagger was on display. Harris, the former doubles champion at junior Wimbledon and junior Roland Garros talked about how injury has plagued his career, while the champion himself was as tacit as a European diplomat. While the Chennai Open did end without any glitches or controversies, there are a few things that demand attention. The tournament wasn’t marketed well enough, and it would be a safe bet to assume that many Chennaites weren’t even aware of the Challenger happening in their backyard. Systematic neglect of sports other cricket is a major reason why Indians are unable to enjoy them. Despite the availability of a state-of-the-art stadium that can seat upwards of 5500 people, the competition saw no popular support.