“It used to be called lawn tennis. And the sport stayed true to its name,” says Jaidip Mukerjea matter-of-factly. “Now, it’s just tennis.” Except for those couple of weeks, when the long-lasting lawns of the All England Club come alive and re-ignite the attraction of grass. Except for a tiny six-week window at the elite stage excursions, when a sprinkling of tournaments at the floor quench the thirst to follow a perishing artwork, for its artists and admirers alike.
Other than that, it is simply tennis. Especially so in India, the place grass-court tennis, seeped in historical past and soaked in opulence, has all however disappeared. The Davis Cup tie between India and Denmark closing yr at the grass courts of Delhi Gymkhana Club used to be a breath of clean air within the barren panorama of taking part in, and observing, tennis on grass within the nation.
Which, within the many years long past through, resembled a humming hive. Grass have been greener in Indian tennis from a century in the past, proper from when the All India Lawn Tennis Association used to be shaped (it’s now simply All India Tennis Association). The nation would host two separate nationwide championships, one completely on grass that used to be first held in 1946 on the famed South Club in Kolkata (then Calcutta). Made richer through its overseas taste — some most sensible stars of worldwide tennis spent their winters taking part in at the grass courts of India.
Its champions had been a lot celebrated: from Sumant Misra and Ramanathan Krishnan, to two-time Wimbledon champion Roy Emerson of Australia and Romania’s former global No.1 Ilie Nastase, to Premjit Lal, Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan and Mukerjea.
All of them took their craft to quite a lot of towns of the rustic that hosted, with the exception of the distinguished Asian Championships, a well-carved home circuit on grass.
“Those days, there were only grass or clay courts, no synthetic courts,” Mukerjea, who made the closing 16 at Wimbledon 4 instances, says. “We grew up playing a lot on grass. Most of our tournaments were on grass. Most of our great wins came on grass. The grass circuit began in November and traveled to places like Amritsar, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Allahabad, Jaipur. We then switched to clay or hard courts.”
Kolkata’s South Club would be a special serving in that elaborate grass spread. With 12 courts of the natural green “considered next to Wimbledon in those days”, as Bengal Tennis Association CEO Sujoy Ghosh mentions, catching some serve-and-volley treat on that hallowed turf was bon appetite for tennis fans in the country.
“People used to hang their towels courtside as a mark of booking,” Ghosh recalls. “As a kid, I still remember the points of Roy Emerson beating Ramanathan twice in the final at South Club. We would watch these players play on grass with awe. Even stepping on to the court was a big deal for us.”
Also, a big deal was Indian players’ results on the surface, individually and collectively. Aside from the Krishnans and Amritraj making deep runs at Wimbledon, some of Indian tennis’ red-letter triumphs in Davis Cup came on grass: from the legendary 1966 inter-zonal final turnaround tale against Brazil at South Club to the iconic tie against Pakistan at Mumbai’s Cricket Club of India four decades later.
For that much-anticipated Pakistan duel in his home city, Leander Paes, Ghosh narrates, sought the expertise of a gardener of South Club, in not just converting the cricket stadium into a makeshift tennis surface but also rolling the grass as per the hosts’ taste.
“So myself, our association secretary and the maali stayed at CCI for about three weeks to prepare the court,” Ghosh remembers. “Leander told us to make it (the surface) slow, so that Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi’s serve from one side can be negated a bit. We rolled the surface accordingly, with a slight slope from left to right.”
India clinched that tie 3-2 with Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi weaving their magic on grass and inspiring a generation with triumphs like those. “My first memories of watching tennis on grass live was the Davis Cup matches in Delhi…watching Leander, Mahesh throughout the years, winning multiple Davis Cup matches for the country,” Yuki Bhambri, India’s former junior global No.1, says .
Bhambri, 31, received an ATP doubles name on grass at Mallorca within the week main as much as Wimbledon, the place, partnering Saketh Myneni, he misplaced within the first spherical. There used to be no Indian within the Wimbledon singles draw this time, just one within the qualifying. For the present Indian avid gamers who’ve little revel in of coaching or competing on grass, this is hardly ever a marvel.
“Most academies and clubs, especially in India, have a lot more hard courts now,” says Bhambri. “Not just me, for every player, it’s hard to adapt to grass. The courts at Wimbledon have changed too and are a lot slower, which adds to the challenge.”
From its double-digit high, the South Club is now left with only six grass courts. From 2008 to the present, India has hosted only five Davis Cup ties on grass, while all ATP and ITF tournaments in the country are held on hard or clay courts. The advent and popularity of all-weather hard courts, coupled by the high maintenance process and cost of grass courts for season-specific use, signaled a rapid decline.
It mirrors a more global phenomenon of a changing game and equipment. “Grass-court tennis was basically serve-and-volley, which was good to watch. Now if you see, even at Wimbledon, they’re all hitting from the back of the court. I’m not saying that’s bad, but that’s how much the game has changed,” Mukerjea says.
“I miss grass-court tennis,” he adds. “But as long as Wimbledon is there, it will be alive.”
In India, save the odd Davis Cup tie, it is dead. “We have to forget about grass courts in India,” says Ghosh. “Just look forward to Wimbledon once a year for the eyes.”
And for the recollections.