No Pain No Gain For Rafa

Striking a conversation about tennis? Of course we cannot forget mentioning about Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic. The Wimbledon tournament surely had some really eye catchy matches this year. Though Federer had some major downfalls in his career recently, he could easily reach the grass court tournament finals. The match had almost reached a phase where there was no hope from Federer, though he took the game uptil the 5^th set. Nadal had even shown a much satisfied performance this year rather than sneaking out in the first round like last year. Due to his successful advancements in the initial rounds, fans had big hopes for him too.

But the 19 year old Australian teenagerKyrgios broke the chain. The teenager exhibited some incredible shots and some incredible aces during the game. Eventually, the Spaniard had to leave the court with sadness.

Nadal, gives his 100 percent for every match he plays, but grass doesn’t seem so successful for him unlike the clay! Nadal, however holds the highest number of French Open titles and almost on the verge on the breaking Federer’s 17 grand slam record. But, fails to do so with repeated attempts.Well, there are just 3 more to go to reach Federer’s record. Though he has numerous losses to count on, he has never been an under-popular sportsman. He remains the most popular and admired Spanish player personality for the 4^th consecutive time. Just a few days back Rafa was awarded with the most admired and popular sportsman in Spain, Sharapova has followed the same in Russia!!

It is also planned as per the tournament which Mahesh Bhupati has conceptualized, a worldwide tennis league in India. The match between the World No.1 Djoker and No.2 Rafa has been scheduled in Delhi, the capital of India. This will be one of the biggest league ever happened in India after the IPL. Though we have seen Nadal and Djokovic, followed by other Indian players like,SaniaMirza and Somdev are really keen on looking forward to be getting associated with the league. Apart from the top 2 world tennis rankers, World no. 3 StanislasWawrinka has also agreed to be a part of this one of a kind Indian Tennis League.

Sania Mirza, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna headline the Indian presence, in which Leander Paes’s name is conspicuously missing. Bopanna’s doubles partner Aisamul-haq Qureshi of Pakistan too is included for the draft. Bhupathi has been tight-lipped about his plans for the league ever since it was announced last year. There were apprehensions over the participation of the top players, who have complained of a packed ATP and WTA schedule in recent years. It is believed that Bhupathi found it hard to convince the marquee players to join the league but managed to do so just hours before the draft list was made public.The inaugural season of the IPTL is slated to be held during the international off season in November and December this year. Djokovic dispelled any concerns by committing himself to the tournament. “I think it’s a fantastic concept if it happens, obviously,” he had said on Thursday. “I hope and I believe it will. It’s a fun concept. It lets the players enjoy themselves on court and off court together. It’s something that we don’t get to see that much, the team concept. It’s not that easy to realise, because it’s a huge programme and project.”


Written by: Fahad Patel