It is known to everyone that when it comes to sports cricket rules the roost in India. The apathy of other sports in the nation can’t be overlooked. Apart from few handful of Indian Tennis players including Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi, the nation could not produce some more reputed players.
Goran Ivanisevic and Tim Henman bat for more popularity of tennis in India
Tennis icons Goran Ivanisevic and Tim Henman are thoroughly surprised at the youth’s negligible interest in Tennis or any other sports. The duo is organizing various workshops and training sessions for the benefit of emerging tennis players in the country through their official program ‘The Road to Wimbledon’.
Henman opined that kids need to start early to get into the game of Lawn Tennis. “Both mental and physical abilities are required to make it big in this sport”, the four-time Wimbledon semifinalist stated to the Indian media. Ivanisevic also found it strange that almost everybody in India wants to play cricket, but they have hardly any interest in other games including Tennis. The visit of these stars at the time of IPL 8, is definitely not inviting much attention and craze from the sports lovers.
Henman blamed the huge popularity of Cricket that leads to lack of people’s interest in other sports. “India is losing its best athletes due to overwhelming love for cricket; the nation needs to have more tennis players too”, the 40-year-old said. Both the veteran Tennis legends explained that if the nation gets one or two Grand Slam winners, then people’s attention to the game will improve dramatically.
India is a vast country. When 1 or 2 of its players make it to the top-10 ranking of the world Tennis, then there is a possibility that the young Tennis aspirants will start getting the inspiration to play the game and work hard towards it. “Kids and youths want to play the game for money which is definitely not a good trend worldwide. They want to enter into a costly contract even without having sufficient knowledge about the game”, the Croatian Wimbledon winner said to the Indian media.
Tim Henman, the English player opined that India need to look beyond the doubles to get quality players for singles clashes. He further stated that amongst Indian players, Leander Paes had the capability to win Grand Slams but he chose to play doubles in the later years of his career.
In a nutshell India’s Tennis requires complete makeover. We need to produce some more quality players who are good at all departments of the game. Definitely it is a high time to adore and love Tennis as highly as possible. If India has to establish itself as a sports loving nation, then all sports should be given equal attention and focus.
Tags: Goran Ivanisevic, India, Indian Tennis, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Sports, Tennis, Tim Henman
