FIRST EVER CORPORATE SOCIAL TENNIS TOURNAMENT WHICH WAS CONDUCTED BY ‘AAOKHELE’ IN GURGAON ON 18-19 FEB FOR A SOCIAL CAUSE

Aaokhele (an NGO promot- ule, the number of matches to speeds and map them with the

ing sports & fitness) organized a be played... no-one fought on the players on circuit. However, to TOURNAMENT TENNIS social tennis doubles-only tour- line calls and noone went home everyone’s despair, they could not nament for corporates in after their matches. All were just reach Andy Roddick’s speed. But Gurgaon. The tournament was there, cheering for one another. a few did beat Sania Mirza. guided with the able hands of Sh. After the round-robin stages, all Manish Jain was the fastest with Suman Kapur (Hon’able Secre- had their own favorites and they a serving speed of 160kmph. tary, Haryana Tennis Association) were cheering for them. Fami- The event concluded in the and brought the tournament un- lies came together, they sat in evening hours of Sunday with the der the aegis of HTA. By the grace groups - cheering and singing. players content with a wonder- of the support of sponsoring com- One of the players, Manish ful weekend well spent. Anubhav panies - Kriskindu (Infrastructure Aggarwal, an excellent guitarist Saksena (Ciena) thanked with a Support), Prince (Prize Sponsor), rejuvenated the moods of every- statement that filled our hearts,” & Artemis (Health Sponsor) - and one by making them sing on his It was an awesome weekend you the support of the community with tunes. The weather was a plus guys made for us. When is the people bringing water, fruits & too. The gentle cool breeze flew next tournament.” Dr. Kanjom other refreshments, this Gurgaon through the weekend giving a (CRPF) also was kind with his get-together saw a spike in the perfect weather to play tennis. words. He mentioned that the participation of working execu- Results: tournament was very well orga- tives from the corporate world. Men’s Doubles: nized and that he will bring more A total of 27 teams partici- his friends in the next edition. Ajay/Ajeet def. Manish/ pated in this doubles tournament Vikram 4-1, 2-4, 10-5 This tournament was with 22 in the men’s doubles an endeavor of Aaokhele to or- Mixed Doubles: draw and 5 in the mixed doubles. ganize some funds to help the The enthusiasm was at its peak Amita / Ajeet def needy.Aaokhele indends to spon- when it was not only the players Saurabh / Richa 4-2, 4-1 sor the needful players who don’t but even their families cheering Besides bringing the com- have resources to themselves. for them. We had a footfall of petitive spirit to fore, there was Aaokhele also is focussed to pro- around 158 folks (kids, friends, fun elements too. The biggest vide education to the families) who came to watch their attraction amongst them was the underpriviliged by going to vil- folks play. Infact, the news of the speed-gun. There was a huge lages and organizing camps for tournament spread fast - as we facination to measure the serve the poor. had teams participating from Chandigard & Muzaffarnagar (UP) too. The participating of the teams came from corporate world - Accenture, IBM, Oracle, PwC, eValueServe, DLF, Alcatel, Orange, to name a few, Defence Services (IAF, CRPF), govern- ment officials, and other busi- nessmen. The players age var- ied from 22-56 but that was not to matter. Surprisingly, no-one complained of the hectic sched-

41 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA MBTA’ S SCHOOL TENNIS SCHOOL TENNIS SCHOOL PROGRAM IN INDIA

-By Shankar Krishnaswamy Director, coaching operations and coaches education program, MBTA, Kochi

Tennis India magazine inter- Q. What is school tennis? Typically School Tennis viewed Mr.Shankar Shankar: School Tennis is means the sport of Tennis Krishnaswamy, presently is the a typical terminology used for learned during the school hours director, tennis coaching opera- Tennis being learned during in their Games/ PT periods. It is tions and coaches education pro- school hours in the schools. It is all about getting the kids inter- gram for Mahesh Bhupathi Ten- known in different names such ested in the sport, using a fun nis Academies. During an inter- as MINI TENNIS, PLAY & STAY. filled, game based approach of view at Regional Sports Center We MAHESH BHUPATHI TENNIS teaching. This program is done (RSC) at Kochi, Kerala, ACADEMIES (MBTA) call it for children from 4 yrs to 10 yr Mr.Shankar explained about SCHOOL TENNIS INTIATIVE OR olds. MBTA’s school tennis initiative as PROGRESSIVE TENNIS. Q. Why they need to below: have it in school? Shankar: The Academic system currently prevailing in our country, hardly leaves any time for the child to pursue any inter- est other than studies .MBTA felt it will be better, the sport of Ten- nis reaches the child in school rather than expecting the child to reach the sport in clubs and Acad- emies. The QUALITY can come out only from QUANTITY and QUANTITY can only be reached, if the sport of Tennis reaches the school. Most importantly it be- comes really cost effective for the parents of the children doing the school Tennis because they save on the cost of (1) Transpor- tation – as the sport has reached the school, no need to travel to any Academies/ Clubs, (2) Ten- nis clothing’s – as the sport is done during school hours, they use their school uniforms only

Mahesh Bhupathi along with Shankar Krishnaswamy MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA 42 and no separate Tennis clothing required,(3) Tennis Equipments – since the equipments required to learn the sport such as Tennis TENNIS SCHOOL Raquets are provided in the pro- gram, there is no equipment cost burden. These mentioned factors make School Tennis really cost effective and most importantly helps the parents as well as we Tennis Professionals to know whether the child has the apti- tude and attitude to take up this sport professionally. ing the core fundamentals of Ten- Q. What were the Q. Who can conduct it? nis, we aim to develop NEURO MBTA’S programs towards Shankar: School Tennis MUSCULAR CO ORDINATION, school tennis? What has program is completely different STATIC AND DYNAMIC BALANCE, been the highlight of the pro- from regular Tennis teaching. It AGILITY, REACTION, RECEPTION gram till date? is more of a Specialized program AND PROJECTION SKILLS to Shankar: MBTA has devel- and there are courses offered by name a few skills. It develops oped a 36 week syllabus for an INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FED- leadership qualities, team spirit academic year for the Grades ERATION ( ITF) and ALL INDIA and sportsmanship in children from Upper KG to Grade V, which TENNIS ASSOCIATION (AITA) to .The program cultivates interest is followed pan INDIA. The intro- qualify himself to conduct this of the child for sports and also ductory Tennis program is de- program. More than the Tennis develops child’s PSYCHOSO- signed to introduce the sport of playing ability communication MATIC abilities. In short the gen- Tennis in a fun based approach and teaching skills are required eral objective of the program is and aims to familiarize the stu- to conduct this program. So any to give back to our society a dents with the core fundamen- person with a sporting back- physically well co ordinated child/ tals of the sport through a “GAME ground of played any sport and citizen!!! the right attitude can undergo the courses offered by ITF and AITA and get himself certified to con- duct a school Tennis program. Q. Do you need a tennis court to conduct school tennis? Shankar: NOT AT ALL!!! We only need a flat even surface, preferably cemented one to con- duct the program. A space of 40 feet X 50 feet is enough to con- duct this program and it can be an open ground, school audito- rium or even a class room!!! Q. What do children gain? Shankar: Other than learn-

43 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA earlier MBTA operates this pro- gram across INDIA. We conduct school Tennis programs in Delhi

SCHOOL TENNIS SCHOOL and NCR, Kolkata, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Bangalore, Kochi. I am sure that other Tennis profes- sionals are also doing the school Tennis in different cities. But the fact is, with what we are doing now, we were able to touch the Tip of the ICE BERG considering the number of cities BASED APPROACH” of learning. bearing fruit as the present num- and the schools we have in our At the end of the Academic year, bers of approximately 12,000 country. But we are very happy where the program is introduced plus kids play this sport in our that the concept is slowly catch- for the 1st year an individual as- school programs pan INDIA and ing attention and more and more sessment of the child on various growing!!! Another aspect of this parents are being made aware aspects like physical ability, ten- program is that through this pro- of the benefits of the program. nis skill ability, knowledge of the gram we are helping the SPE- In fact Govt: of INDIA, HRD Min- sport, will be tested through an CIALLY ABLED CHILDREN to im- istry is actively considering mak- evaluation process and assess- prove their Neuro Muscular Co ing sports part of the curriculum ment report card with relevant ordination and we have 70 spe- and giving due weight age for grading given to every kid in the cially abled children attending the performance in sports. program. And in schools, where program in one of the school pro- Q. Does School tennis the program is running for the grams in Calcutta and are re- help the hand –eye coordi- subsequent years, the evalua- sponding well. nation for specially- tions are conducted every Quar- Q. Do all cities have this abled children ? ter and there will a calendar of program ? Shankar : Yes, As I have events for the year, which con- Shankar: As mentioned mentioned earlier, since this pro- sists of PROGRESSIVE TENNIS TOURNAMENTS held during the year. We run an in house COACHES EDUCATION PRO- GRAM for our coaches, who con- duct our programs in schools and also provide all equipments like tennis raquets. Mini nets, special tennis balls, fitness equipments etc., so that there is no burden on the school management, who adopts our program. Highlight of this program till date is MAHESH’s vision of getting this sport to grassroots level and get more and more kids to play this sport in our country is slowly

MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA 44 highlighted and MBTA would like was the member of the ASSO- to contribute in whatever little CIATION OF INDIAN UNIVERSI- way in helping the specially abled TIES TEAM in 1987. Former children in our country to enjoy Kerala State and Kerala Univer- TENNIS SCHOOL this beautiful sport “ TENNIS”. sity Champion, he is a certified Profile of Shankar USPTR certified, ITF Level II/ Krishnaswamy : AITA Level V certified Tennis Pro- fessional. Shankar Krishnaswamy was born in 1968 in Trivandrum, For Any Further Information Kerala. He is the son of N. On School Tennis And Assis- KRISHNASWAMY (Late), who tance, he can be contacted started the Tennis Coaches Edu- at: cation program in our country with RAJAKUMARI KAUR SCHEME Mr. Shankar Krishnaswamy School Tennis Programme : in OLD MOTIBAGH in PATIALA in Director, Coaching Helping specially abled children 1968, later came to be known as Operations and Coaches National Institute of Sports ( NIS) Education Program gram helps in the development and presently known as Sports Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis of Neuro muscular co ordination Authority Of India (SAI). of the child, it plays a vital role in Academies Shankar presently is the Di- developing the hand eye co ordi- rector, Tennis Coaching Opera- + 91 94471 39724, nation of the specially abled chil- tions and Coaches Education Pro- + 91 0484 6491724 dren, which we know for sure as gram for MAHESH BHUPATHI 70 odd such children in our pro- Email : TENNIS ACADEMIES. He was a gram had proved. This has been [email protected], former top 10 sub junior and jun- the SOCIAL RELEVANCE side of [email protected] ior level player in the country and the program, which should be

School Tennis Programme : Helping specially abled children

45 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA PROMISING PLAYER PROMISING

TI’s PROMISING PLAYER, WINNER OF ALL INDIA GRASS COURT NATIONALS 2012(MENS) SAKETH MYNENI

MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA 46 TI’s PROMISING PLAYER (MENS)

Profile TI: How were you intro- All India Ranking (Singles) 7 duced to tennis, and whom do you credit for your All India Ranking (Doubles) 11 present achievement? Atp Singles 583 Saketh Myneni: Basically, I PLAYER PROMISING Age 24 Years (19-10-1987) started it as a physical activity and Birthplace Vuyyuru, Vijayawada started to get interest in it. I will Residence Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh give credits to my parents for the Plays Right-Handed all the sacrifice and support that Racquet Head Youtek Radical Ig they put in for me. Also, to all Father Prasad Myneni those people who have played different roles in my life. (I can- Mother Saroja Myneni not single out one in particular) Coach C.V Nagaraj Everyone involved with me have Academy The School Of Power Tennis to be credited in this part. (Secunderabad) TI: Where are you pres- School Graduated From University of ently training? Alabama Started Playing Since (Age) 12 Saketh Myneni: I presently train at The School of Power Ten- Recent Achievements/Performance: nis (Secunderabad) under Coach Sl.Name of the Place & DateResult C.V Nagaraj. No.Tournament TI: Who is your favorite 1.ITF Mens Bhimavaram, Runner Up Singles tennis player and why? Circuit F3 Mar 2012 And Winner Doubles Saketh Myneni: My favorite 2.All India Grass Kolkata, Winner Singles tennis player while growing up Court Nationals Feb 2012 and will always be Andre Agassi 3.ITF Mens Chennai, Winner Singles for his amazing comeback to ten- Circuit F9 Nov 2011 And Doubles nis. The guy is one of the great- est legends of tennis with great Exceptional Career Performances: character and attitude. · Currently ranked as the top singles and doubles player in andhra Pradesh TI: What are your goals · All India Men’s Nationals Champion in 2012 and Junior Nationals for the 2012 season? Champion in 2005 Saketh Myneni: I am try- · Represented (A.P) in the All India Interstate and won a team event ing to earn a spot on the Indian Gold Davis Cup Team and try to rep- · Won 5 Consecutive Gold medals for A.P in the All India resent the country on the World Interschool’s- (2001-05) Stages. I like to be moving up in Favorite Shot Serve & Volley the ATP ranking and compete Favorite Surface Grass with the best in the world. Favorite Tennis Player Andre Agassi TI: What can make ten- Favorite Tennis Moment When I Won 2012 Grass Court nis more popular and entice Nationals Kolkata more kids to take up tennis?

47 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA Saketh Myneni: First and foremost, we should have the accessibility for kids to play it as a leisure sport. It is an expen-

PROMISING PLAYER PROMISING sive individual sport and should be exposed to kids at an early age for it to develop. TI: What are the finan- cial challenges that Indian parents are facing in meet- ing the expenses for tennis tours in India and abroad? Saketh Myneni: This is one of the key factors that is letting down the talent that we have in India. As I mentioned before, ten- nis is pretty expensive and a per- son should be well funded to prove him/herself internationally. Sponsors can help a lot helping in exposing the talent from here. TI: What is your mes- sage to young kids taking up tennis? Saketh Myneni: Always be passion and goal oriented. Take the baby steps to succeed in sports and life.

Rapid Fire With Saketh Favourite Music English, Hindi & Telugu Favourite Bollywood Movie Lagaan Favourite Tv Series Friends Favorite City Visakhapatnam Favorite Books Autobiography Favorite Food Indian & Italian Favorite Women’s Player Steffi Graf

MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA 48 GUIDELINES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF CLAY TENNIS COURT -By A.R. Rao, Clay court preparation expert and Director Surya Tennis Academy, Secunderabad CLAY COURT CONSTRUCTION COURT CLAY

More tennis courts are be- is ideal. The area should be level should be leveled to even sur- ing converted to clay court sys- and on firm ground. A north- face. tems than ever before in the his- south axis orientation is desir- 2. Decide on the type of tory of tennis. That’s because able. If ground is not even, it clay court you want. Different clay court tennis brings players more enjoyment and fewer inju- ries at every stage of life. Clay courts allow tennis players to slide, which means they can play for as long and as often as they like without overstressing the knees, back and lower extremi- ties. Here are some guidelines for clay court construction: 1. Plan the location for your court. The playing surface for a doubles-based tennis court is 36-by-78 feet. When you fac- tor in the space needed outside the lines, having 60-by-120 feet

49 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA eled and rolled with 8-10 tones power road roller. In trench 6" dia cement pipe to be laid and joining with neat cement. The outlet of the pipe to be taken to the existing natural rain water drains/slope to drain out the rain water easily. Due to this drain the

CLAY COURT CONSTRUCTION COURT CLAY court surface will not be disturbed badly and dry very soon .The bottom surface of the court the Linder will be filled and com- pacted to even surface.Next layer 40 mm graded aggregate (hard stone) should be laid and com- pacted with roller to the even surface to a thickness shown in the drawing. Red Gravel to be spread to a thickness shown in the drawing, water will be spread and rolled to an even surface and well compacted. The clay used for this type of court such as mix- ture of soft clay and sand equal proportion and well watered and rolled with hand roller to even surface. The top surface also laid same clay but it should be passed through 6mm/1/4" sieve and well watered and rolled with hand roller to even surface. The court will be laid to a gentle slope to drain out the rain water by 4" (1" in every 15 feet). 4.The fence (Jali) should be at least 12 feet high entirely surrounding the courts. Jali should be galvanized wire of 1 ditional clay court requires mul- types of clays are available in dif- inch mesh. Two side gates is a tiple layers underneath the play- ferent Indian cities. Clay requires must. Fence should be painted ing surface. The Tennis court constant watering, so it does not with dark Green colour. The fence area to be excavated to the depth dry up and crack. should be fixed on the retaining of 15".on the middle of the court 3.Consider hiring some- wall which is 1 feet higher from to the size shown in the drawing one with experience building clay the top layer of court. courts. Clay courts are not prac- and also the plan of tennis court/ cross section also shown in the 5.Plan for any amenities tical as a do-it-yourself project you might want on the court, such because the construction of a tra- drawing. The court will be lev-

MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA 50 as a water fountain, benches and should be compacted with a a special line brush. Dusting the a place to store equipment. roller once a week. After playing courts with chloride of calcium 6. Plan your maintenanceon the court, you should water it helps to bind the surface mate- of the court. After the contractor to maintain the condition of the rial and make the court wear has built the clay court, you will clay. The court will need to be better. need to maintain it. The court swept and the lines cleared with Profile of Mr. AR Rao CLAY COURT CONSTRUCTION COURT CLAY Name A Ratnakar Rao D O B 04/06/1952 Address 20-157.MES colony, venkatapuram,secunderabad-500015(AP) Qualification B A Worked 20 years in Indian Air Force(Technical) Tennis Qualification NSNIS,USPTR,ITF Coached Indian Air Force, Army,Navy(Services coach)Represented Services three times in Nationals(Best-Last 16 in singles) Won Air Force cup, many inter-club competitions/tournaments Conducted coaching camps Mr. Ramanathan KrishnanMr. Ramesh Krishnan, Mr. Shyam Minotra for 45 days with and Mr. Jaydeep Mukerjee Worked as chair umpire for Fed cup, world Railway Games and many National and International Matches Coached /Financial help Punna Vishal: Played for Davis cup Arafat: played for ITF and All India Tournaments Pradeep D:Gold Medal Winner-K V School Games Many services players Presently working Director of Surya Tennis Foundation at Bowenpally, Secunderabad- Having 7 clay courts with 125 players Works Preparation of all types of Tennis courts and manufacturing of all Tennis equipments like Hand Roller, Metal score boards, Flood light poles. Hobbies Playing Sports, Swimming ,Friendship Languages Known Telugu, Hindi, English

For any further information on Clay Court Construction and assistance at your city, Mr AR Rao can be contacted at: Phone: 040-27966409, mob: 09246368494, e-mail: [email protected]

51 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA Head® Word Game Contest May-June 2012 issue Send the right answers for the HEAD Word game and win “HEAD BACK PACK” in lucky draw contest.

HEAD CONTEST HEAD Marcos Baghdatis

Kim Clijsters

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi

Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal

Andy Murray

Type in the names of the countries these tennis stars belong to Collect the letters in the grey squares, re-assemble them to get the name of an Indian tennis player Send your entries to [email protected] with your name, address and contact details. Send your entries to : [email protected] : to entries your Send Head lucky draw contest Feb-March issue winner : Swaroop, Hyderabad

Tennis India Magazine Scholarships Tennis Education (Worldclass coaching and teaching) For the talented and deserving young Tennis players

Please contact: [email protected] Phone : 09686044746, 09343780945 Maria Sharapova of Russia poses with her new Porsche Carrera 911 GTS after winning her final match

against Victoria Azar

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the view from the Burj Al Arab helipad.

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TENNIS EXTRAS TENNIS EXTRAS TENNIS

View from the Burj Al Arab helipad, Dubai MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA 54 TENNIS EXTRAS TENNIS

Rafael Nadal attends ‘Alma Nadal’ Charity Match Presentation at Santiago Bernabeu stadium on May 7, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. 55 MAY-JUNE 2012 TENNIS INDIA