Top ranked tennis player Karan Rastogi created history on Saturday when he became the first-ever Indian to win a professional title in a clay court event abroad in 25 years. At the Futures F5 $10,000 event in Khemisset, Morocco, top seed Rastogi beat third seeded Spaniard Cesar Ferrer-Victoria (604) in the final 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
According to tennisindia.org, a leading site on Indian tennis, legendary Ramesh Krishnan was the last Indian to win a pro title on clay at the Stuttgart Outdoors on July 18, 1982. Another Indian, Prahlad Srinath came close with a runner-up finish in an Indonesian satellite leg on clay in 1997.
Touch artist Krishnan too hailed Rastogi’s win. Talking over the phone from Chennai, Krishnan said : “I’m happy that Rastogi has done this. I know him, he is a hard worker and has some good results behind him. But to win on clay by any Indian, is a great achievement and it should be praised as we don’t have a clay culture here in our country,” said Krishnan.
Elaborating further on the problems, Krishnan said that we India have ignored clay courts. “We put more emphasis on Wimbledon and the US Open and really don’t give much importance to French Open. It’s sad,” opined the former Davis Cupper.
Talking about his Stuttgart win on clay in 1982, Krishnan said it was also a tough match.” I was up against American Sandy Mayer, who was one of the top 10 ranked players in the world. I think the scoreline was 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 and I enjoyed beating Sandy. He was a tough nut to crack,” recalled Krishnan.
The 20-year-old, however, says he is not aware of this record but it was certainly a big day for him. “Yes, I played really well. I’m not a clay court player and the last time I had played on that surface was five months ago in February against Uzbekistan in a Davis Cup tie. So it was difficult to get my feet moving freely on the surface, yet I managed to win.”
It was indeed a big task for Rastogi since third seed Spaniard Ferrer-Victoria was on song in Morocco and had not dropped a set in the last fortnight while winning the F4 Futures title in Rabat, Morocco the previous week. “I had played that tournament in the previous week but went down to another Spaniard Adolfo Gomez-Pinter 2-6, 6-4, 0-6 in the first round itself. Therefore, I couldn’t get much practice there,” informed Rastogi.
Rastogi expects to be somewhere in the 330-335 rankings bracket after this title win. “I need to be around 290 to be able to play the qualifiers at the US Open later. Now I’m going to play two tournaments in the United States ($50,000 Challenger at Kentucky starting July 23 and then the ATP event in Washington) and will try to put in my best efforts to garner the required points,” said the Mumbai resident.
Rastogi will be training for a week at the prestigious Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida this week. “Last time I was there in late April, where I again had the opportunity to play players like Xavier Malisse and Tommy Haas. Now I’m going there with an aim to improve my ground strokes and serve.”
“I also want to get physically more fit for the Kentucky event where I’ve already got an entry into the main draw,” informed Rastogi.
It has been a fantastic run during the past month for the young lad. Rastogi had reached the final of three Futures events in India where he lost to another Indian Davis Cupper, Prakash Amritraj in all the three occasions. “I had never played him before so it was a bit tough, but I have no regrets,” said the Davis Cupper, who now has financial backing from Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited.