Personalities

- Nisha Millet
- Vijay Bharadwaj
- Aparna Popat
- P. Gopichand
- Mahesh Bhupathi
- Anil Kumble
- P.Anil Kumar

Young Achievers

- Punkaj Advani
- Shilpa Sequeira
- Neema Joyappa
- B.N. Chandrika

Interview

- Roger Binny
- M Azharuddin
- Raman Subba Row
- Ashok Shandilya

Review

Sports History

Tennis

The game of tennis had its parent root in Egypt or Persia around 500 B.C. It is also believed that the game could owe its origins to a game of handball that was played in ancient Greece. Around the 11th or 12th Century, the French devised a game called 'jeu de paume' or the game of the palm.

In 1873, Major Walter Clopton of England introduced a version closely resembling the modern sport. He patented the equipment and rules for playing the game on grass in 1874. Major Walter Wingfield introduced his guests to a game called 'Sphairistike' in 1873. Prior to this Major Harry Gem of England and his Spanish friend J.B. Perera pioneered a similar type of game.

The game soon replaced croquet as the most popular outdoor sport in England. The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in 1877 sponsored the first major tournament for men at its headquarters in Wimbledon. The women's event was included in 1884. By the turn of the 19th Century the game spread to Canada, South Africa, America, France, Germany, Belgium and Australia. The game was included in the 1896 Olympics and continued till 1924. It was reinstated in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and has been a part of the Asiad calendar since 1958.

Towards the end of the 20th Century, India's Leander Paes of Calcutta and Mahesh Bhupathi of Bangalore had taken the tennis world by storm by their doubles exploits.

The winsome twosome ended the Millennium on a high note by creating a unique record. They entered the doubles final of all the four Grand Slam events and won the Wimbledon and French Open championships. India also became an important stop in the men's calendar with the ATP Gold Flake Open tennis tournament taking firm roots at Chennai from April 1997. In fact, Paes and Bhupathi began their doubles date with destiny by clinching the title in the first tournament at Chennai in 1997. The Indian pair scaled the greatest height of being ranked as the number one team of the World. But an unexpected injury and shoulder operation to Bhupathi temporarily split the pair at the dawn of the new Millennium. 

And 25 years later his son, Ramesh, emulated the feat. In 1990, Leandar Paes also won the Junior Wimbledon crown. While Ramesh has also won the Junior French Open in 1979, Leander Paes has won the Junior Australian Open and the Junior US Open titles in 1990 and 1991 respectively. Leander subsequently won the bronze in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta.

While Vijay Amrithraj played in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when tennis was reinstated, Ramesh and Leander narrowly missed the doubles bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

India also reached the final of the Davis Cup competition thrice but without any success. In 1961, the Indian team of Ramanathan Krishnan, Jaideep Mukherjea and Premjit Lal lost 1-4 to Australia in the Davis Cup final. In 1974, the Indian team comprising Vijay, Anand, Sashi Menon and Jasjit Singh forfeited the final to South Africa. Again in 1987 the Indian squad lost out 1-4 to Sweden in the final. The Indians made their debut in Davis competition in 1921 with the team comprising M. Salem, S.M. Jacob, L.S. Deane and A.A. Fayzee.

In the Asian Games at Bangkok, the Indian pair of V. Dhawan and S.P. Mishra won a bronze medal. This was repeated by Shyarn Minotra and Chiradip Mukherjea in the 1978 Asiad again at Bangkok. Sumant Mishra emerged as the first National Champion defeating Manmohan in 1946 at Calcutta, where the event was inaugurated. Zeeshan Ali at 16 in 1987 became the youngest player to win the National Championship.