NEW DELHI: Fields of gold, the tennis courts certainly weren't.
Expected to yield at least three gold medals, India came away with a solitary piece of yellow metal, thanks to world No. 97 Somdev Devvarman. The 25-year-old top seed kept his promise and won India their first-ever gold in what could be tennis' only appearance at the Commonwealth Games. Glasgow, the 2014 hosts, have opted to go without tennis even though they have in their ranks world No. 4 Andy Murray.
Devvarman is under no illusions about his game. He knows he doesn't have a forehand that can blast the opposition off the court or a serve that makes returning impossible. What he does have is an incalculable amount of stamina which ensures he can outrun and outlast his opponent on any given day. A relative newbie to the team, his display of emotion after his win showed that the win meant a big deal to him.
A field that was hurt by high-profile withdrawals - Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Marcos Baghdatis and Samantha Stosur - the quality of tennis never lifted from average to interesting till the very end. Matches were over in less than 30 minutes and it was only from the semifinal stages, when the seeds clashed, that the Delhi crowds had decent tennis to watch.
Sania Mirza, who still commands a sizeable popularity among fans, grew from strength to strength, but even when spurred on by the very vocal support, couldn't halt Australian Anastasia Rodionova's medal spree and had to be content with a silver in singles and a bronze in the women's doubles, in which she partnered Rushmi Chankravarthi.
The biggest disappointment for India came when Grand Slam champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi flopped in their quest for gold and had to fight off compatriots Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna for the bronze.
Rodionova, a naturalized citizen, never left her allegiance to Australia in doubt. Just a look at her yellow and green painted nails along with the zeal she brought to the court even though she had to play two matches every day of the week in hot and humid Delhi were enough to see that winning here was bigger than just winning medals. She finally collected two golds and one silver.
The world No. 65, unlike other competitors across the board, who regularly complained about the crowd, was gracious enough to acknowledge the droves that turned up to watch the game, even though they cheered her errors more than her winners.
How the Indians fared (4 medals)
Gold: Somdev Devvarman
Silver: Sania Mirza
Bronze: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi & Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi
TOI
Expected to yield at least three gold medals, India came away with a solitary piece of yellow metal, thanks to world No. 97 Somdev Devvarman. The 25-year-old top seed kept his promise and won India their first-ever gold in what could be tennis' only appearance at the Commonwealth Games. Glasgow, the 2014 hosts, have opted to go without tennis even though they have in their ranks world No. 4 Andy Murray.
Devvarman is under no illusions about his game. He knows he doesn't have a forehand that can blast the opposition off the court or a serve that makes returning impossible. What he does have is an incalculable amount of stamina which ensures he can outrun and outlast his opponent on any given day. A relative newbie to the team, his display of emotion after his win showed that the win meant a big deal to him.
A field that was hurt by high-profile withdrawals - Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Marcos Baghdatis and Samantha Stosur - the quality of tennis never lifted from average to interesting till the very end. Matches were over in less than 30 minutes and it was only from the semifinal stages, when the seeds clashed, that the Delhi crowds had decent tennis to watch.
Sania Mirza, who still commands a sizeable popularity among fans, grew from strength to strength, but even when spurred on by the very vocal support, couldn't halt Australian Anastasia Rodionova's medal spree and had to be content with a silver in singles and a bronze in the women's doubles, in which she partnered Rushmi Chankravarthi.
The biggest disappointment for India came when Grand Slam champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi flopped in their quest for gold and had to fight off compatriots Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna for the bronze.
Rodionova, a naturalized citizen, never left her allegiance to Australia in doubt. Just a look at her yellow and green painted nails along with the zeal she brought to the court even though she had to play two matches every day of the week in hot and humid Delhi were enough to see that winning here was bigger than just winning medals. She finally collected two golds and one silver.
The world No. 65, unlike other competitors across the board, who regularly complained about the crowd, was gracious enough to acknowledge the droves that turned up to watch the game, even though they cheered her errors more than her winners.
How the Indians fared (4 medals)
Gold: Somdev Devvarman
Silver: Sania Mirza
Bronze: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi & Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi
TOI
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