After a long hiatus I am back to the blog. Will not make any promises of keeping the blog updated since I have realized how lazy I am.
Back to business then!! The post has been prompted by the event which happened a few days ago. No doubt a great day for a man and the sporting world. I am referring to Roger Federer finally overcoming his long drawn jinx and finally laying his hands on the coveted French Open. Man!! After all his trials and tribulations and of course tears (courtesy a certain Mr Nadal), his efforts were finally fruitful. A heartiest congratulations to him and best wishes for more silverware in years to come.
However, I have a point to pick here. Not against Roger, who has most certainly been a sporting icon of our generation. It is against us Indian fans of tennis. Right after Nadal’s ignominious exit against Soderling I could see my Facebook home page plastered with my friends status messages egging on Federer. Status message like “Go Roger Go”, “Fedex on the way”, etc were visible all over my FB home page. Almost everyone who knew the T of tennis was throwing his weight behind the man. A most notable indicator of the fan following Roger has.
Amidst all the hoopla surrounding Roger’s march to the title there was another discreet march going on in parallel. It was our very own Leander Paes quietly progressing and then winning in the men’s double. But my FB friends who were going gaga over Roger had no time for our very own countryman. Or maybe they were not aware of Paes’s progress, or maybe they were aware and don’t care. After all in a country so used to mediocrity in sports (with some exceptions) we have resigned ourselves to supporting players/teams of other countries (Brazil in soccer, etc). Nothing wrong in supporting excellence, irrespective of nationalities, but then we should not forget our own sporting stars.
Ever our over-enthusiastic press went gaga over the Federer mania. Flip over to any news channel and it would be showering adulation on the Fedex. Must have repeated the video of Federer weeping atleast a 500 times. And all the weeping ensured that Leander was consigned to a very small mention somewhere in the news. Agreed that Federer is the bigger star with a larger mass appeal. But then Leander’s contribution to Indian tennis cannot be looked over. His triumphs in Davis Cups and the Atlanta Olympics still give goose bumps because of their sheer fervor. Certainly he deserves more of our attention span.
Food for thought!!
Over and Out,
Shubham
5 comments:
shubham, ur discontent might be justified to an extent...but u have to understand that this phenomenon has loads of factors attached to it.
first and most imp. is the amazing decline of doubles, over the years.
blv me, if lee or any other indian had even done someth. as trivial as reaching the 3rd round of french, he would have been all over the place...even lee has rcvd more than it was due, when he made to the 3rd round of US, and managed to take a set off agassi :)...or for that matter, when he won his only tournament in newport(of all places)...this euphoria got carried over to sania...when she wins a round or two in a slam...and ev1 knows all abt the 86th ranked opponent she defeated in the 1st round :)
Also, its not right to just blame the indian media for this decline..as its just following the global trend...doubles ceased to be IMP. long long back...and with each year, move into more obscurity...u shld see the no. of fans in the stadium in a doubles slam final vis-a-vis any 1st round match in the center court...and thats why its no longer even a 5 set affair...McEnroe and his frens (;)) were the last ones to take doubles seriously, more than 2 decades ago...the woodie bros and paul harhuis/jacco eltingh and to an extent, lee/hesh managed to salvage some interest till about a decade ago...and all of them(esp. lee/hesh) got ample screen and print presence then...now, toh its totally gone...
tennis is probably the most hyped game in india today, after cricket...and we are just waiting for someone to do something...anything...rem., yuki being the toast of town not so long ago.... :)
so, maybe its not about the forgotten indian but rather the forgotten doubles.
and just as an afterthought, federer's win is probably the most imp. day in the tennis hall of fame in the last few decades and hopefully for years to come...what has prompted guys like laver, agassi and sampras to proclaim that federer, now, has rightfully the claim to "The Greatest Tennis Player Ever"...and what, i blv, will now clear any self doubt and put him well on course for a mind numbing 20 Grand Slam haul...Amen.
I honestly don't think that the indian media realised all this, but for once, they deserved to go OTT.
Just realised that dis is like a post it itself! :P
Thank for the thoughts shared Abhi. Helped me get a much better perspective of the frenzy around Federer. I on my part am not contesting even one bit the attention Federer is getting. He deserves all this and much for the true gentleman & sporting legend he has been. My only point is that Leander deserved more adulation then he got..irrespective of the form he played in.
true!while I agree with Aby..still leanders feats were no less imp and should have been geinve proper media attemtion.
Thanks for the support Fighter bhai!
Post a Comment