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| Courtesy - Nirupama Vaidyanathan |
Nirupama Vaidyanathan was born a
generation early. The kind of facilities and money that is now available to
Indian female tennis players cannot be compared to the time when Nirupama
started out playing.
Her story comes as an interesting one. A
country like India which produces innumerable female graduates and business
professionals, still has to struggle when it comes to identifying and nurturing
the talent in sports. With globalisation, and digital media, one can self-coach
- however Nirupama took to tennis in the 1980's - at a time when India had not
yet opened its economic borders to the outside world.
On a global scale, her achievements do not
speak much, but when spoken from an Indian context, it is safe to say, she set
very high standards and took many roads less travelled in her playing days. She
is the first to admit, a couple of choices if she had made (during her playing
days) could have helped to extend her career and also improve her singles
record. Hindsight is vision 20:20 - Nirupama is ensuring to pass on the lessons
she learnt from her playing days to the young tennis players through her
academy, her coaching assignments, her public appearances and through her
books.
I caught up with Nirupama over a chat in
which she recollected her playing days, her raise to number one in Indian women's
tennis, her life in Europe, becoming the first Indian woman to win a round at a
singles Grand slam event, her academy, motherhood and a comeback at the 2010
Commonwealth Games.
RT - The first Indian woman to
win a round at a Grand Slam in the modern era. Talk us through that match
against Gloria Pizzichini in 1998?
NS - "Australian Open 1998 was one of the few occasions
where I actually had my coach David O Meara with me. We stayed at our uncle's
place in Melbourne to save costs. Before the match, David scouted the player
when she (Gloria Pizzichini) was practicing and gave me a game plan, he
definitely instilled confidence that I could pull that game off in my favour.
It wasn't an easy match, I remember it was a tough three setter, and I was down
1-4 in the second set. Then I came back from trailing to win the set 6-4. After
I won the match (6-7, 6-4, 6-2), I went to the press conference straightaway
and the whole experience was really new. I had won a challenger or two here and
there, but to be at a Grand Slam press conference was very unique, different
than what I was used to. At that point, I realised what I had achieved and
until then I had no idea about the records, and all I knew was that I was one
of the first women from India to be playing at that level."
RT - You were one of the first
few among Indian athletes to sign up with IMG. What was your experience and did
the association help you to become a better player?
NS - "IMG came right after the Australian Open. The
problem was at that time, there were no events that IMG did in India as far as
tennis was concerned (barring the Chennai Open for men). The best part about
associating with IMG in United States is that they help you get wild cards in
tournaments, since they were not doing that particular thing in India, there
was little they could help me with. With regards to sponsoring, the concept was
still new in India, as IMG had just come to India and I was one of their first
clients. I was more like an experiment, which didn't really go well for them. I
got a couple of commentary assignments through IMG, but sponsorship wise, I
didn't get any from them."
Nirupama went about talking what the tennis association could have
done. Tennis association in India could have been proactive and scout for
potential companies that expressed their willingness to sponsor. If association
doesn't have money, at least they could try for their athletes and this process
of trying itself builds a better relationship between the association and the
players. If you are number one in the country, you should get more support from
the association. At that time, I didn't get anything.
RT - Let us talk about the
season of 2001, wherein you played doubles exclusively and partnered with
Renata Kolbovic, Nana Miyagi, Rika Hiraki at the Grand Slams. How difficult was
it to find a suitable and a constant doubles partner?
NS - "It was very difficult because I was not in the top
100, I was just in the borderline. And then the fact I was from India, finding
a base in United States, it was hard to find a partner who had the same goals
and have similar financial issues I had. European players wanted to play only
in Europe, and Americans - they played with partners who they knew from a young
age; also, I was one of the few to be doing this in India, it was very
challenging. I guess, when you are first person to do something, it is always a
learning process, nobody tells you what to do, I could have made a career just
out of doubles, but there wasn't any guidance for me to understand this is what
I need to do, this is how I need to approach, etc. Somehow this was never a
part of my plan either as I always wanted to play singles - so it didn't occur
to me that I could have played just doubles even though Leander and Mahesh were
in front of me."
RT - A lot of them take up
sport(s) during the childhood and they continue up until certain point in time.
And then when going gets tough, it is the passion for the game that stands out.
Can you cultivate passion to keep on playing the game (at the professional
level)?
NS - "That's a tough question. Passion actually comes
later, passion doesn't come when you are a child. Passion comes when you are in
your teens and when you can see what you are capable of and good at a
particular field. Of course, there are people who have taken up sport at a
later stage and have been passionate - but overall I believe passion is
something that is cultivated in the teen years and to a lesser extent
inborn."
RT - The trend in tennis, at
least in Indian tennis is that.. you start out in singles and then becomes a
struggle to hold on your best play for longer duration (injuries/lack
of support), and then you switch over to doubles. What is lacking in
Indian tennis players to make it big in the singles circuit?
NS - "I think the main problem with the younger crowd like
Rohan Bopanna or Sania Mirza, is that tennis today is more viewed as a science.
For instance, Kimiko Date, she made a comeback at the age of 38. If you look at
her support group, people like a masseur, and other external support staff to
help her compete at the highest level. For somebody like me, or our next
generation, this is something unheard of, and we lack this kind of support and
infrastructure especially in an individual sport like ours. Imagine with a
large support group, you have to think about an extra fare ticket, an extra
room and other costs, so it comes down to support, financial aspects. Only
after so many years in the professional circuit, Mahesh and Leander travelled
with a physio. In that aspect, players from Europe and in America, the idea of
support staff is more professional. We need more support, that's the
basic."
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| Courtesy: Nirupama Vaidyanathan |
RT - Tennis featured in
Commonwealth Games for the only time at the Delhi 2010. You were a mother at
that time. What was your motivation behind participating? I was in the
audience, you had teamed up with Poojashree and went on to face Sania Mirza and
Rushmi Chakravarthy for the bronze medal clash. How was your comeback like?
NS - "It was a dream come true. When I started teaching at
my academy (founded in 2004), somewhere along the line, a thought occurred -
these kids do not have the passion and the drive we had. I could not get them
to do few things and it was frustrating to find kids not having that interest
on the other side of the court. I decided to do something, so this was one of
the reasons for me to make a comeback.
Secondly, after my child birth, I was struggling to come back to
shape. I had gestational diabetes, issues with cholesterol and honestly it
hasn't completely gone away. If I have a goal in mind, I will work harder to go
and get it. My comeback was structured on these two aspects. When I
started playing, everything just happened and I was lucky to be selected into
the Indian team. To play after eight years of quitting the sport, you see
everything from a new perspective. It was like re-living my earlier days. I had
a blast and really hoped I could have got a medal at the end of it. But that's
the way life goes!
RT - You have played the game
and now run an academy. How do you spot talent? How intuitive is this decision,
to say, oh, there is a talent?
NS - "Spotting talent is very easy. I am not being proud
or crazy about it. There's one gift I have is that I am able to analyse and
understand what a kid has or doesn't have just by looking at them play for an
hour. Spotting talent is the easy part. The long process after that is the
tough one. Kids these days have too many activities and everything is handed to
them on a plate. Even for my own daughter, it is a lot easier than what we had.
To get them motivated or passionate about something is a lot difficult in this
generation. And then, there is the stigma associated with sports with Indian
children with many believing sports is going to ruin studies. Unless we get
over this stigma, it is very difficult to produce champions."
RT - Coming to the diet part, I
know that you are a vegetarian. How much did nutrition play a role especially
when you were on the tour? How did you cope with it during your travels?
NS - "You know, I actually regret sometimes that I was a
vegetarian especially when I lived in Europe. The vegetarian options at that
time when I used to play in Belgium or in Netherlands were so limited, it would
have been easier if I had consumed meat. It would have made my life a lot
simpler if I had eaten say, chicken. What ended up happening is that - I had
insufficient nutrition and I ended up loading on carbs. I was stuck in a
village, with no car and the village had just four restaurants with none
serving vegetarian food. The concept of vegetarian that time was 'boiled green
beans' or potatoes. Definitely, I didn't get the best nutrition when I was
playing, maybe because I was stubborn - but I do wish even today, when I was
playing I had eaten meat, any meat that would have given me sufficient
nutrition. With carbo loading, every three hours I was hungry again and many
times I ended up eating cheese or drinking milk, which had more fat than
protein. It is totally different now, I can go out and look for options, in
those days I had limited resources."
RT - Since last year,
there are two Indian tennis leagues (one by Vijay Amritraj and the other by
Mahesh Bhupathi) that has managed to bring in a lot of international stars. In
your view, how will that help mould the future of Indian tennis?
NS - "It doesn't mould anybody. But what it does is, it
creates interest in people and following in tennis. Cricket in India just takes
over the entire space - so we do need these leagues to keep the interest levels
up. Are these leagues going to help the kids? No they are not. They are
completely business. I wouldn't say they are detrimental to kids, the leagues
create more of an interest as they get to see stars in action up-close. Will it
help at the grassroots level, no."
RT - The element of politics is
part of sport governance. Hypothetically, if you were to be the next head of
AITA for three years, what changes are you likely to bring out?
NS - "If I tell you that, they will bring it in right now
and copy it. Laughs. No, they are not capable of copying.
Things are so far out of hand that to bring about a change, what it will do is
expose them about not doing anything. Even if they bring changes right now,
people will ask, why didn't you implement this ten years ago. Unfortunately,
they will not do anything right now. Laughs again. The answer to
this question is like an ocean and it is almost impossible to explain and
articulate it in one go. There are so many things we can do.. number one is to
have sufficient tennis courts for public to play in the cities. People should
be able to pick up a racquet, rent a tennis court and play. This concept
doesn't exist or a rarity in India right now. It is all about clubs and the
private members - so actually, the people who have talent may not even get an
opportunity to play the sport. Number two, it will be about structure. I wrote
an article last year in Hindustan Times and it created a lot of uproar in the
AITA. Conducting tournaments is the most important thing is what AITA believes
in and they have structured the association that way. My structure would be
very different to that of AITA - every level must have the coaching staff, and
a person must be held responsible just for the junior development. Sub-juniors,
juniors, seniors and tournaments, everything has to be under one roof. And,
there is nothing like that in India right now. There are too many things that
can be done. But, when there is no one who takes these responsibilities, then
little can be expected from the association."
RT - Your book is titled 'The
Moonballer', it is an interesting choice. Does the name suggest the type of
player you are or the attitude you carry in your life?
NS - "There are two reasons why the name 'Moonballer' was
chosen. It sounded good to a layman and it made people curious and moreover my
publisher wanted this name as well. The second reason, it is a metaphor. I
started out playing tennis as a Moonballer** and by the time I
finished my career, I was more comfortable playing close to the net, and
enjoyed my serve and volley game."
** Moonballers use the high
topspin balls to avoid risks in their shots and to prevent attacks from their
opponents.
RT - Talking about current set
of tennis players...which tennis player can you associate with? In other words,
if you were to be re-born and play in this era, who would Nirupama resemble?
NS - "Hmmm.. international player right? Hmmm.. I would
like to think that I would like to play like Kvitová (Petra Kvitová) - but I
was never a left-handed, so that goes out of the window. With my physical
fitness, I would have to be an aggressive player otherwise I could not have
survived the tour as I do not have the legs for it."
RT - Pete Sampras recently wrote
a letter to his younger self. What would you write to your younger self?
NS - "Takes time...Hmmm.. laughs, Oh my God, you are
asking such a deep question. What would I write to my younger self? I would
have looked to move out of Coimbatore and find a better place in India to play
tennis. I would have definitely encouraged myself to play more doubles. I would
have thought about living in Europe more. I lived there for two years, but life
was very difficult. I would definitely have looked forward to hunt more
sponsors so that I remained in Europe and played tennis. And with regards to
aim, and goals, everything came down to support. As a person, I did whatever I
could with what I had. But if I had more money, I could have travelled with a
coach. In a nutshell, I would have played more doubles and moved out of
Coimbatore as I believe, the city was not ready for me."
RT - In one of your interviews
you mentioned about your impending second book about tennis parenting. My niece
(age 7) has started to learn tennis and few of our friend's children are
knocking the junior doors in Switzerland? How passionate should parents be and
to what extent?
NS - "I believe in one thing. If we are
thinking about professional tennis, I mean if that's the goal at the back of
one's mind, on an average your child is going to be become a professional at
the age of twenty. That is peaking period. Now if you start to throw things at
her or him at a young age, the body needs to grow and so too mentally. I am
against that. I believe the best time they need to be pushed is between 14 and
18 years of age when they are physically and mentally ready. The part of my
book is dedicated to it. There is an advertisement I saw which read, learn
Nadal fitness regime. So all the parents ran to enroll their kids in
the course. This is where common sense must prevail. Nadal is an adult and
he is a professional tennis player. If your child who is nine is going to do
what Nadal does, do you think the kid's body will be able to take it? There
will be kids with back problems, knee problems and it could be end of someone's
career. In my tennis parenting book, I will focus on 'Eight Years to Glory' -
anything we do is going to take eight years to excel. So, if you do not have
the patience for it, then it is better to give up. In those eight years, the
learning has to be systematic and ensure the kid never gets injured, as injury
is the worst thing that can happen to a child. It is a slow process towards
excellence."
