Opening day of any major is way too hectic for my temperament. Five minutes on site on Day 1 and I'm overwhelmed by analysis paralysis - sheesh, how am I going to choose a topic in this Arabian bazaar of a tennis tournament? Well, try to do something different, I tell myself, and don't cave to the pressure and cling for dear life to your seat in Arthur Ashe stadium. And for heaven's sake, don't shoot your wad on Day 1 writing about Roger Federer, Serena Williams, or Andy Roddick.
So I decided that today is. . . India Day at the US Open! How's that for a little out-of-the-box thinking?
Anyway, it's only appropriate to start India Day with a nice samosa appetizer followed by chicken tikka masala, so that's just what I did - the New Delhi Spice concession does a very nice curry, and the line usually isn't too long. My fellow New Yorkers seem more interested in fighting it out to see who can get a pastrami sandwich as thick as the Manhattan telephone directory at the Carnegie Deli - before they get stabbed to death with a plastic knife or die of starvation while waiting in line to order.
So then it was on to the Chennai double-header: Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza, who, with a little luck, would be waging their first-round battles on nearly adjacent courts decently removed from the thrum and chaos of Arthur Ashe or Lous Armstrong.
Devvarman, you may recall, is the two-time NCAA singles champion (representing the University of Virginia, or UVA) who declined to turn pro until he graduated in 2008. He's been on the tournament trail ever since, enduring the aspiring journeyman's travails. He's currently ranked no. 162, and he made it into the tournament the old-fashioned way - via qualifying.
In Fact, the USTA declined to offer Devvarman a wild card into the tournament in either of the years that he won the NCAAs, a decision that irritated some. It was especially true last year, by which time it was apparent that John Isner, Devvarman's victim in the first of his NCAA finals, can play some. Devvarman has been a bit like the puppy nobody has wanted to adopt, but which makes its eventual owner a mighty happy bi-ped.
Be that as it may - Devvarman launched his Grand Slam main draw career today, in his fourth attempt to make the main draw. He was facing Portugal's Frederico Gil on Court 15, were the only seating is aboard a small bank of skeletal aluminum bleachers along either baseline.
I arrived near the end of the first set and immediately lucked out when a woman abandoned her seat in the bleachers. A man standing to my left told his companion, "Devvarman went to UVA where he won everything you can possible win. But he's kind of short."
Well, it was true enough.The contrast between this brace of 24-year olds was interesting if not exactly dramatic. Officially listed as 5-11 and 160 lbs., Devvarman is anything but an imposing physical presence. Gil is formally 5-10, 154 lbs. I'd say each man grew an inch or so on his way to the ATP website and media guide, and that Devvarman added a few pounds while Gil shed a few; this was a match-up of the lean and fleet with the stocky and powerful, both men preferring to operate from the baseline and neither capable of doing much damage with his serve.
In some ways, it was a nicely tailored match-up; not exactly a contrast, but with enough minor, dovetailing differences to promise a match that would be decided by something other than a glaring weakness or an overarching strength.
As I settled in to watch, a young man named Jason Cohn introduced himself to me. He's the head coach for men and women at Stevenson University, a Division III college known until 2008 as Villa Julie College. Jason explained that Villa Julie was originally a nunnery, and in any event I'm glad the regents changed the name. No young guy ought to have to coach a boy's team from Villa Julie; the "Stevenson Mustangs" strikes a heftier note, don't you think?
In any event, the field courts are a great place to watch a match featuring at least one kid who's been a collegiate star, because he invariably draws a large group of classmates, former teammates, coiaches and alumni. There were numerous UVA t-shirts in evidence at Court 15, and Devvarman later told me that almost every time he looked up from the task at hand, he saw someone he knew from his college days in the stands.
I wondered if he chose to make eye contact, and said that when he did it was just incidental. Tennis players are odd creatures that way, a little bit like peeping toms. They're almost always intensely aware of the spectators, especially on smaller courts, but they cling to an unwritten rule forbidding anything but the kind of eye contact that's made out of sheer desperation or compulsively.
Devvarman reminds me of a slightly smaller, slightly less rangy model of Guillermo Coria. He's very light on his feet - sometimes they work like flippers as he scampers to a ball and hits a shot that lifts him right off the court. In fact, Gil also knows how to roll his entire body into the ball. Both of these young men hit forehands with a long, low-to-high stroke, so it looks like the racquet is actually licking the ball. And they both use the two-handed backhand.
Gil's forehand was the most dangerous stroke on the court; it produced plenty of winners but more unforced errors as well. He especially likes to tee-up the inside-out forehand from his backhand sideline, which isn't a bad idea given that the shot flies to his (right-handed) opponent's backhand, and over the lowest part of the net.
Devvarman played with a less aggressive sensibility and preferred to lurk further behind the baseline - let Gil take the chances, and goad him into going for too much, too soon. This Gil did not do; he demonstrated excellent self-control, but over time even the most disciplined of aggressive players can be lured into throwing caution to the wind. As the match progressed, Devvarman kept tightening the mental screws. If Gil's forehand was the most dangerous stroke, Devvarman's stamina was the more lethal tool.
Devvarman won the first set, and the match was decided in the last four games of the second set. With Gil serving at 3-4, Devvarman forced him into a long game featuring half-a-dozen deuces and two break points that Gil successfully defended. Gil held, but his relief at having done so helped Devvarman to hold the next game easily. Gill struggled again in the next game again, and failed to convert a succession of hold points. When Devvarman finally won a deuce point, he converted the critical break following a long, artful rally with a smart backhand winner down the line. He went on to win in straight sets.
Afterwards, I felt obliged to ask Devvarman if he was aware of the naysayers - those who said he was too slight and short on power to succeed on the pro tour. "I mean, you hear a lot of stuff, positive and negative. You try not to let any of it get to you. That's why you have a close circle - close friends, a coach, a trainer. . . I try not to pay attention to any of it, the good or the bad. That stuff just isn't going to help you."
Devvarman is a focused, rational young man. Yet he characterized his experience as a pro as an "emotional roller-coaster," which once again confirms the theory that the difference between a cool customer and a hothead may be more a matter of self-control than the size of the emotional reservoir. "It's been a heck of an experience," Devvarman said. "A completely different experience from college. You're out there traveling every week, dealing with a lot more adversity, with different conditions, surfaces, traveling every week. It teaches you to be tougher, to go out there and not make excuses - just leave it all out on the court."
I wondered if Devvarman felt any vindication after winning his first official Grand Slam-event match - if he felt he sent a message to the USTA about those wild cards he never was offered. Not at all, he insisted, explaining: "Obviously it was a bummer about those wild cards, but it's completely understandable - it's the US Open, they want to help out their own juniors.When all is said and done, it's just one (sic) tournament I didn't get into. But it's a long race, so it's no problem whatsoever."
Devvarman is a native of Chennai, India, but he lives on Charlottesville, Va. (near UVA). He plays Davis Cup for India, and he's now coached by the former U.S. touring pro, Scott McCain. His mental strength is a great asset - how else could he have beaten Isner for the NCAA title without breaking Isner's serve a single time? And Devvarman knows he has a tough row to hoe; when I asked him which group of players he falls into, he replied "There are a lot of guys out there who aren't 6-7 and serving bombs all the time. I happen to be one of them. The most important thing for me is to go out there and compete well. I did that today - I felt I competed well, I didn't get tight. How you compete is what gets you through tough matches."
!90198422 When I left Devvarman's match after the second set, I stopped by to watch Mirza. She was on Court 13, belting the ball with Belarus's Olga Govortsova. Mirza is one of the cleanest ball strikers in the WTA; she has plenty of snap in her wrist (most evident on her forehand side) and she hits her backhand with such easy confidence that her support (left) hand breaks free from the racquet shortly after she makes contact, adding an appealing measure of explosive flair to the stroke. It's a joy watching her hit groundstrokes.
But that serve - my, oh, my. . . Mirza starts out with the best of intentions, with a knee bend that, absurdly, may make you think of Boris Becker in his heyday. Unfortunately, it seems a tease - a show of false bravado. Instead of launching herself upward with the spring-loaded power of a Becker, she abandons the project, straightens up, and by the time the ball reaches the peak of her toss (and a low peak it is), she's cowering under it. Her body language says: Come on, gimme a break, do I really have to do this?
Partly for that reason, Mirza struggled with Govortsova, taking three sets to win. Give Mirza a decent serve and you're looking at a 2-and-3 yawner. But then, give Devvarman a slightly larger frame and you've got Top 10 material.
But all in all it was a good day for India, and for me as well.