Summary & Highlight :
It's 6:15am 14th of march 2015. Clear blue sky, creeping birds, meditating people, yoga session and some early morning runners. A beautiful morning atmosphere. Weather at its best, our prayers are heard. Walking hastily toward court I look around and check if the arrangements done is intact. The audience gallery, Shamiyana, posters, banners all look perfect.
'dude all is set I am on my way let’s begin' I WhatsApped another organizer.
Both the courts were beautifully set to welcome the first ever grand tennis tournament for mens, womens & mixed doubles at Spandhana. The round robin men’s matches are to be kicked off in next few minutes. I dash in to the organizers desk. 24 Tennis cans, referee, organizers, linesmen and players. It's all set. The atmosphere is full of excitement, anxiety and enthusiasm.
Tournament kicks off 
Referee, lines men, players all are geared up. With a loud announcement "good morning Spandhana” it kicks off sharp at 6:30AM in both the courts. Spandhana center becomes the center of attraction.
Commentary begins
'Arvi serving from north-end, Shivam to receive from clubhouse-end'
For elders it was a treat to watch from their house balcony with a cup of tea. All stylish players showing some real action
“tok-tok-tok, 30-40, duce, 3-2 , bahar hai, kill it, I’ll take, ohh shoot, abe yaar, it’s referee’s call ”
with such noise people came out and witnessed some entertainment they never saw before in spandhana. Gradually people start pouring in to the audience gallery of the clubhouse decorated with beautiful Shamiyana and chairs. While enjoying yummy parathas, omlate, idilis and fresh juice etc they watch men sweating in action. 3 hours 12 (men’s) round robin matches in both the courts, tennis at its best. First session goes successful. Organizers relieved, cheerful and confident. It's break time until 4:30pm. Second session begins, more people pour in and make the beautiful afternoon lovely and lively. Remaining round robin matches start at 4:30pm. With some back to back action and drama all men’s round robin got over by 6pm. A packed day for tennis. 32 players smashing all over in 24 matches.
Men's qualifiers : The Power games
Men’s Quarterfinalists were announced. Score tally wasn’t as predicted. Lots of twist and turns. Some dark horses made in to QFs and some good players succumb to pressure. That’s the beauty of a tournament. Akshay-Adarsh from Group-B showed there newly achieved excellence. Their persistence of regular practice paid off, defeated some seasoned players and they made it to QFs. In group A round robin, Rajesh-Sid whitewashed Abhishek-Rahul before they could understand what’s happening. Rajesh with his excellent reach to volley and Sid with his controlled aggression demonstrated an awesome form.
'tum toh dhul gaye dost' I asked Rahul Nagia
'Dasila they are unbeatable, they are finalist' Rahul Nangia concedes.
What happened after that was a real twists, will be revealed later. Another under-dog from Group C who made it to QF was Naryan-Nitesh. All QFs were on Sunday (15th March) morning.
Women's qualifiers : Lights, camera, action & glamour
It’s 6:30PM action begins. Vibha-Pranati north-end holding their nerves , Shruti-Merlyn clubhouse-end pretend to be calm composed. High voltage drama begins. No one wants to give away the points. Rallies go up to 10 on an average. With every point it’s celebration and strategies inside the court and shouting, hooting, whistling, fight outside the court. Soon Shruti-Merlyn got in the rhythm. Shruti with her powerful forehand shots proved why she is rated the best player and Merlyn with her cheeky volley and stylish (one foot up) shot gave no chance to the opponent. Soon they raced 3-1 lead followed by the match point, Shruti-Merlyn were set to win. Magar twist toh abhi baaki tha. Tournament pressure had something else in store. Vibha-Pranati were determined to not to give away. Vibha a seasoned player, Pranati an intelligent player. Next three games were Vibha’s shots and Pranati’s lob, a treat to watch. The twist and turn finally culminated in to a tie-breaker. It was won by Vibha-Pranati.
Another game yet another thriller! This time it was Rashmi-Jyoti facing Sunyna-Neeti. Saturday evening was rocking. This game was another neck to neck fight. From rallies to volleys to lobs to shots, every player was committed. Water breaks, strategy breaks. Sunayna a seasoned player since childhood, made no mistake, frustrated the opponent with her persistent returns.
Neeti’s game was at a different high with her supporters rallying around in her support. She wished if her hubby wasn't putting extra match pressure from the photography corner. Her lobs made Rashmi-Jyoti run around the court.
Rashmi Dasila’s game was a discovery. She was playing shots from the rule book, positioning herself perfectly before playing the shots.
'What a shot , what a back-hand Rashmi… this lady is playing just the best' audience make the noise.
A good friend of mine couldn’t wait to bully me
'Dassu Rashmi’s back hand shot is better than many men tu bhi kuchh seekh biwi se'.
Dint know if it was compliment or comment. I smiled at with a sense of proud. Jyoti was committed, her perseverance paid. Pushing the ball down the line she made the opponent run all over. Just when u think Jyoti will lose it, she lobs the ball on the baseline. The intense game was over finally in favor of Neeti-Sunayna.
It’s was closure of Saturday evening session. All women’s doubles round robin were over. Sunyna-Neeti & Vibha-Paranti reached finals, Jyoti-Rashmi bagged 3rd position. It was a day of twist and turns.
'reality is stranger than the fiction, it is proven today' I said to a friend while signoff the day.
Sunday was to offer the climax. It was all set for quarter finals , semis and finals. And some great mixed doubles. Quarterfinalist must have had their plan chalked out for Sunday, it was no less than a grand slam.
Tournament started with fun but got turned in to some serious competition for the title. Stakes were high.
The Mixed doubles : Drama unfolds
The hype made the day bigger than we thought of. 6:45AM Sunday morning Mixed double starts. Shruti-Rajesh vs Dasila-Rashmi after Shruti-Rajesh vs Pant-Vibha.
No match was going to be easy. Both the matches went in to tie-breakers. Shruti-Rajesh won both in tie-breaker in identical situation. Mixed doubles had some family drama to offer. Both B.Dasila and B.Pant got a beating from their partners (wife) right there for losing the last point in the tie-breaker due to confusion. Hubby relies on wife and wife relies on hubby to take the shot. And point got missed to opponent’s favor. The typical home stuff “maine socha tum blah blah, "par maine toh socha tum” was out in open. Decision for next year was made, no family-family mixed double.
'Damm-it kya pressure hai yaar …biwi ki sath partner nahi banna hai' Pant expresses in despair, same pinch, I offer my shoulder.
Men's Quarter Finals : No one gives up
Next was men’s quarter finals. The high in the tournament was yet to come. QFS1 starts with Rajesh-Sid vs Nitesh-Narayan. Players geared up in style. All tennis guru had predicted whitewash for Narayan-Nitesh considering Rajesh-Sid’s superb form in round robins ( 4-0 whitewash of the Abhishek-Rahul). But there was a twist in the offering. Nitesh with his excellent power shots between the players and Narayan with his bullet speed smashes. It was a jaw dropping watch for the audience. Naryana-Nitesh zoomed in to Semis with 6-2 win. The day was for this handsome team. Oh my goodness was the reaction from the crowd.
Second QFS2 had a different flavor. It was my QFS match. Dasila-Pant vs Shyam-Girish. Shyam-Girish was the highest rated team. Toss was won and we chose side
'Last match lagta hai ye apna dassu' pant said.
'hum dhoyenge inko, don’t worry we have washed out all 3 teams in round robins' I exhibited confidence.
Match begins. In no time we were down 1-5. 40-30 QF match point. I paused and went to pant
'Break-fast ke liye bol dete hein kaam tamam ho gaya apna they r too good today'.
Pant was hurt 'Tu ruk dassu abhi duadaate hein inko'
Next point pant lobs to the base line just not possible to pick. Then the duce point was a chop cut on the net. Opponent ran their hearts out to reach the ball but couldn’t. 2-5. We were not yet dead. Water break.
'wapsi karte hein kya pant' I asked, had to show some character.
Next game I served 3 aces and game was ours. 3-5. There was life back in game. After that it was to trap the opponent by keeping the ball running until opponent makes mistake. Both sides were playing mind games. 15-to-20 rallies per point. From gentle push to lobs to chops to corner to net rallies, it was all running around, no shots no smashes. From 1-5 down , now the set was 6-6. Some real struggle. Girish-Shyam eventually walked in to semis with 5-3 in tie-breaker. It was 1 hour set.
'We knew if we defeat this team we can defeat anyone' Girish confesses.
It was good consolation comment for us while walking out of QFS.
Pant responds Girish 'This was the tournament final match you are the winner'
Other 2 QFS were equally competitive. Abhishek-Rahul facing Laxman-Vivek. Laxman with his excellent corner shot and Vivek with his excellent volley manipulations dominated the game and in no time they were leading 3-0. But as usual every game had to have a twist. Rahul-Abhishek got Vivek-Laxman trapped by letting them do mistake and keeping the ball in running. Abhishek-Rahul walked in to semis. Break time.
Sunday evening was ready for the ultimate climax. Its 5pm the thriller begins. It was men’s doubles semis. Girish-Shyam vs Nitesh-Narayan. One team was the top rated and the other was in deadly form to upset anyone on that day. Nitesh-Narayan showed some character and lead the score 2-0. Will they repeat QFS was the question running my mind. But it wasn’t easy to dominate Girish-Shyam any longer. They read Nitesh-Narayan’s game and trapped them. Girish-Shyam rammed in to the Finals 6-3.
Second semi was yet another thriller. Giri-Ganpati vs Abhishek-Rahul. Giri-Ganapati were leading 4-2. Ganapti with his class top spin power shots and Giri with his “to much” smashes, it was looking an easy game for them. And then during break Rahul-Abhishek looked around, elated with audience response they got their aggressions out and controlled their nerves. Audience make a huge difference in some people’s performance. Soon it was a tie breaker. Abhishek-Rahul reached finals. Exhilarations and celebration in the court.
Flood lights on, audience all settled for the eve. It was time for mixed doubles matches. Mixed double matches were a game of coordination, drama and confusion. By 7:30PM first winning team of the tournament, the mixed double category winners were announced. It was Shruti-Rajesh team! Runner up team was Bhupesh-Rashmi.
Women's Final : Tension, tension and more tension.
The evening was poised for the final climax ; the Women’s final and men’s final. Entire audience gallery was packed. Food stalls, clubhouse shopping marker, kids running around, whistling , shouting and hooting. I was on commentary concluding the hype created on FB. Dozens of kids sitting under the tent next to the maintenance house were super excited watching their parents playing.
'my mum defeated ur mum and I’ll get the medal' I overheard a kid saying.
'My dad will defeat ur dad and get the medal' reacts the kid. Thought crossed my mind thinking of my son "thank god kuchh toh mere pass bhi aaya dene ko..kya pressure hai yaar"
7:45 pm. Women’s final starts. Vibha-Pranati vs Sunyana-Neeti. Packed audience, flood lights, fans, kids, senior citizen all concentrating on game points. The ambience had something to offer to everyone. With every point it was whistling, shouting, hooting, steel plates being banged. This scene was never seen before in Spandhana. It was again a neck to neck fight. Sunyana’s returns and Neeti’s lobs were too tough for the opponent. First set won by Sunyana-Neeti 6-4. Water break, strategy break. Second set begins. Vibha-Paranati were down 1-4 in second set. Just when it was looking an easy walk for Sunyna-Neeti. There was a twist. Vibha-Pranati’s team has a character to bounce back. Next games were nail biting games Vibha-Pranati showed some great shots and rallies and won the second set by 7-5. Match went in to the tie-breaker, giving justice to the final match. Winners were Vibha-Pranati with 7-4 in tie-breaker.
Men's Final : The Grand Finale
Now was the time for the Match of the tournament. The men’s Final. Abhishek-Rahul Nangia vs Shyam-Girish. 2 sets for final followed by normal tie-breaker was the rule. The mahaul was all set to make the evening big. Game starts. A high pressure game. All players had reserved their best game for the finals. First set starts. Some great serves, good shots, smart volleys between the players. It was treat to watch. Girish-Shaym dominated the first set. Girish with his skidding push down the line , unpickable and Mr shyam makes no mistake. They won it convincingly 6-3. Second set begins. Abhishek was cool, pressure was off from him. He showed some class volleys and smashes. He was is great knock with crowd cheering up . And then Rahul Nangia gets the cramp. This was the turning point. It was required to remind Nagia that he was a state level TT champion. This team became a “Ghayal-Sher”. They got their rhythm back, trapped the opponent to make mistake. Some high paced running around. It was intense thriller. Match crosses 10PM then 10:30PM then 11PM. 2 hrs match. The second set was 6-6. Then tie-breaker for second set. Abhishek-Rahul won it 7-2. Then the tie-breaker for the championship. Finally Girish got his form back and Girish-Shyam win the title in the tie-breaker by 7-3. Tournament Champains - Girish-Shyam
Behind the scenes
Preparations : Action, thrill, comedy, drama, Violence and Love.
Planning sessions
