Chennai Open Semi Fried Mirch Masala 2008

I have a personal experience with players whom I veto for. They always lose. 'Lose' is actually a very mild word. Their a** gets whopped in royal blues. So I stay away, watch the matches with as much indifference I can summon and 'enjoy' a good match. Even if I favour one teeny weeny bit, some psychological radar hits their telepathy to bring them down in a series of 'unforced' errors. While yesterday started with Mikhail Youzhky vs Marin Cilic, I was on the stands guarding my own preferences, maintaining my halo "Love-all-Players" (pun-unintended) and watching the match, I think I clapped a little harder for Cilic. It was a mistake really. But the Tennis gods wont have that. The croatioan crashed down the first set, finally touched our pavement autorickshaw stand at 6-2, 6-3. Youzhky status - very happy but his meter starts a countdown when he plays tomorrow in Finals. So what if Cilic's ranking was 70 something and Youzhky's 19, Last year Malisse broke Nadal And his was 112 while Nadal was just ..2. Yanyways, Match was not all that great. It passed.

Most aniticipated one was for Carlos Moya vs Rafael Nadal. Now this has a little history that needs to be added before I commence. Last year, this was the most anticipated match. Everyone wanted a Moya-Nadal Finals. Unfortunately for them, Koubek and Malisse beat them to it (Hey, that was not me. I was working with the media backstage and did not get to watch the match).

So this match has been awaited for a year and I think the wait was worth it. Chennai witnessed one of the best games to be ever played here. A total of three hour and fifty minutes of pure unadelterated super quality tennis. Such brilliant volleys, serves and tackles.

The game had a good speed and start. Moya, looked confident, calculating and what poise! He surprised Nadal in the first few minutes. The last two years I've seen him in Chennai Open, I have always wondered how this guy won Chennai Open title twice! But now Carlos played such a healthy game, his aces were perfect. To my knowledge his serve reached 208km/h the highest yesterday.

Watching Moya play was like being asked Trick or Treat during Haloweens! Each set grew on you. Bloody Enjoyable. It was like watching a fierce battle between two Spaniards who had the strength and speed of all missles but only the absence of presence of any.

The first set itself had a grand finale with Moya winning 7-6(3) after about 1:20 minutes. I was sitting on the cemented pathways for a clearer view as my seat had a really lousy one with the Lamp post getting in the way. So needless to say my butt was getting pretty sore. And to add to this, I had such a vareity of bad audience sitting around me (Yes, another radar) I had to work hard at ingnoring the noise and concentrating on the game.
Audience 1 was two kids shouting 'C'mon Moya' after an hour of which the one kid asked someone, "Uncle, who is Moya?"
Audience 2 was one guy with an irritating Cell phone which he refused to keep in silent mode. He started taking Cam pictures during the match, and the camera mode had 'space craft meets kunnakudi' sounds, that I had to ask him to stop it.
Audience 3 were two guys who were shouting for Sania Mirza
Audience 4 was one grandpa who was waiting to get my place, so I could not get off my treasured-seat and get snacks.
Audience 5 were an irritating group of adolescents whom I think have not grown up after kindergarden. The guys in the group were supporting Nadal just to irritate the girls who were supporting Moya. They had brilliant ideas of singing sad tamil numbers everytime Moya lost a shot. Surprisingly after Moya won the first set they all shut up. And I think the group left too. They was just making noise for the sake of it.

The second set was in no way less equivalent. It was exciting. The pace stayed. The players never let go. They held their ferocity all throughout. And Moya, again was such a pleasure to watch. He did a lot of unanticipated moves. Why am I not talking about Nadal? Well, I wouldnt say he did not play well. He is world No.2, he played as he would. Only Moya was a surprise package. I was not against Nadal, I was FOR Moya.. makes a difference, see.. The tie breaker for the second set was brilliantly not-choreographed. Such intensity cannot but help be felt in the stands. Very infectious.
Finally rounded to 7-6(8) in favour of Nadal.

We were in the third hour when the third set started and still saw serves in 200'skm/hr. What stamina you need to do this and still play the finals the next day! Inbetween the third set saw Moya getting more net serves than before otherwise each was a hard earned point. The crowd pitch rose when both reached 6 all and started the tie breaker, here Nadal gained 4-0 which put him at a brilliant advantage. When he got five, Moya made his first point and unfortunately the last one.(Sorry I was cheering for you) The third set finished at 7-6(1)

Moya got the sportsmanship 2008 award from Vijay Amritraj. For a persevering three hour fifty odd minutes of magnificent tennis, a well deserved one. Hats off Carlos! May you have better fans cheering with less default-loser-radar-syndrome problem and may you have a great year ahead.