Tennis Travels by Ambika Pande

On The Courts In Hyderabad

2013-03-26T11:16:10Z

Hyderabad! My first tournament after my injury. Actually my first tournament in almost a year.

One thing I have learnt about these tournaments is that the qualifying players have it the worst. Not the stay or anything but the people handling the tournament have absolutely no clue about anything. I mean the first place you come to after arriving is the official hotel. Just so you can rest up and can get your bearings. But you want to know some stuff about the tournament. But these guys at the hotel know absolutely nothing. Distance to the courts, transportation to the courts, heck, I have been in situations where they were unaware that their hotel was the official hotel for a tournament!

I qualified for the main draw. I got through both my matches pretty easily losing only one game in both my matches. It felt good getting back into match play. I also got a main draw doubles wildcard. My doubles partner was Sai Samitha. Coincidentally, she was also my opponent for my first round main draw match! Since I qualified, I had no singles match on Monday, only doubles. My singles was on Tuesday. We won our doubles on Monday beating our opponents closely; 13 11 in the super tiebreak!

Unfortunately I strained my back during the final qualifying on Sunday; I didn’t realize it then. During the doubles match my back kept twinging a little but I didn’t stop playing thinking it to be a little bit of stiffness. When I got up on Tuesday, I wasn’t able to twist. Rather than risk aggravating it even more (the last time I did that I had to take 8 months off to let it heal!) I conceded both my singles and doubles.

I got my back checked out by Naved Bhaiya (my physio) who said that the back muscles on my right were strained and that it would take 5-6 days to recover. Probably because of my nerves, and my first tournament back from injury, not to mention 45 minute bus rides to the venue albeit over bumpy roads! Nothing serious, just rest and some physiotherapy required. So that’s a relief!

Next stop Asian B1.

Cheering For India At The Davis Cup

2013-02-22T07:41:58Z

I watched the Davis Cup the week before last. The matches were held from 1^st Feb to 3^rd Feb. It was held in Delhi, at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium, where I train, so I got some pretty good seats. The Davis Cup is the most important team event in men’s tennis, and happens every year with teams from competing countries playing each other in a knock out format. This match was between India and Korea, so naturally there was a lot of anticipation and enthusiasm involved. India’s line up consisted of V.M. Ranjeet, Vijayant Malik, Purav Raja and Leander Paes, with Arjun Khade and Ashwin Vijayaraghavan making up the reserves. The singles rank of our number 1 player was 512 as compared to that of Korea’s no 1 player which was 311, so the Koreans were the favourites in this match up.

India’s top players i.e. Somdev Devvarman (career high rank 62), Sanam Singh (currently ranked 402), Yuki Bhambri (currently ranked 177) and Mahesh Bhupati did not play due to the controversy surrounding the AITA and the players; the players felt they were not being heard. It was a pity because I feel that the country comes first , whatever the grievances of the players, and which can always be sorted.

We lost the tie 1-4, with Purav Raja and Leander Paes winning the doubles match. But it was amazing to see the players in action, the atmosphere with people waving Indian flags, and shouting slogans. I could just go on and on. The feeling which ran through the crowd when India won a point regardless if it was a double fault by Korea or a winner hit by us was electric. We would stand up and with a collective voice roar, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai!!’ I went completely patriotic for the matches. I painted my face with the colours of the Indian flag, waved around a huge flag and just supported my country with everything I had! I got my sister Devki to make a poster with Go India Go written on it and gave her specific instructions to wave it around manically if the slightest opportunity presented itself. She followed my instructions so well that in the end she had to be restrained for fear that in her enthusiasm she might seriously injure someone.

(Left to Right) Avika, Devki (my sister), Ishaan, Disha, Me, Garry, Aryan (in front), Akshat, and Anu Ma’am (my yoga teacher )

That's my team. I’m in the centre with the painted face. We all train together at DLTA. Well all of us except Devki and Aryan. I tried to convince all of them to paint their faces but as you can see I wasn’t very successful. Only Avika agreed and that too, a tiny flag on her cheek. You can spot it if you look hard enough!

It was an awesome experience just coming out and cheering for India. I can’t wait for the next time India plays a Davis Cup match in Delhi again!

It's 2013!

2013-01-23T10:10:07Z

It’s been a pretty eventful 2012. I’ve had an injury which lasted for about 8 months, I learnt how to juggle, do some pretty cool dance moves, commentated at my sisters school basketball tournament finals, and survived the end the world. (Refer to Mayan end of the world prophecy).

I celebrated new years in Dubai. We stayed in this place called Hotel Tamina, in one of the apartments. After coming from Delhi where the temperature had dropped to about 2 degrees Celsius, and felt even less, Dubai was a welcome change. 20 degrees, sunny and warm, but not hot; it was perfect. We stayed there for 5 days, dreading our return to Delhi. It also didn’t help that my dad kept on updating us on Delhi’s climatic conditions. Stuff like, ‘today was the coldest day of the year’, and ‘the hills are warmer than Delhi. Though the best line came when we were sunbathing on a beach; I think it was our last day in Dubai and he walked up to us and told us very matter of fact that that day Delhi was colder than London.

As I mentioned in one of the above paragraphs I ‘had’ an injury. It is now in the past tense. I have finally recovered. None of the ‘take treatment for two more weeks and then we will see.’ I am (drumroll please) finally back. My new year’s resolution for 2013 is to get six pack abs. And not just any six pack abs. I want abs like Jessica Ennis. She is the gold medalist in the women’s heptathlon for the 2012 olympic games. I’ve even put up a poster of her in my room, abs and all. For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted abs. And now that I have finally healed from my injury I’m going to focus on fulfilling this lifelong dream of mine!

I’ve started playing full sessions now. I am able to do the full morning session now, fitness, yoga and everything. I haven’t really done a full day’s session yet. I don’t want to push myself too much too soon. But the way my back felt after training and my recovery is very encouraging so I might play a few evening sessions next week.

I’m back and I’m raring to go!

At My Creative Best!

2012-11-29T11:49:24Z

Some not so good news. I had started playing tennis again but as the soreness in my back wasn’t going away I consulted with the doctor who told me that exerting my back when there was still so much soreness could aggravate the injury and told me to shut down for a month; no running nothing. Just physiotherapy. So the past weeks I haven’t really done much.

I mentioned in the previous blog I have started using public transport i.e. the bus and the tempo (to go for physiotherapy). Contrary to what I have been told the people using the public transport are really very courteous, especially towards women. I got on the bus one day and I had my big tennis bag with me. I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone so I remained standing with the heavy bag on my shoulder. I must add that the bus was jam packed – and by that I mean people spilling out literally. The bus conductor must have noticed me standing because he turned to this guy sitting and told him in crude Hindi to move his butt from the seat. He then turned to me and very politely bade me to sit. After I was seated he took the tennis bag from me and gave it to the same guy who he had kicked off the seat and told him sternly to ‘hold madams bag’ for the remainder of the journey! I really felt like royalty. Its experiences like this which really warm your heart.

We had a Diwali mela here in Central Park the week before last. Lots of stalls; food, games and there also was a diya painting stall which I was presiding over. I even made up a catchy jingle to help draw people to the stall. “Try diya painting, it’s mentally stimulating!!” But apparently diya painting is really uninteresting because even that didn’t win them over. People only started taking an interest when I told them that it was free! What cheapsters! I didn’t help my back much by then proceeding to do jumpies with kids but it was so much fun.

The soreness in my back has receded a little over the last 2 days so I have been going for walks. I still can’t run yet but walking is fine. On one of my walks I met this cute dog. A beagle with the saddest eyes you’ll ever see. And this dog must have really creatively inclined owners because they’ve named the dog - Brownie. Out of all the names they could choose from. I ask you! I don’t own a dog so for the want of one I bought a bonsai which is now called Booziette. The name actually evolved from Bamboozle to Boozle to Boozy. And then because I’m a girl I insisted that the plant should have a feminine name and so the ‘ette’ was added to the end. And so the name booziette was born. And then you hear about people naming their dog Brownie.

That’s it for now. Toodles.

Getting Back into Action...

2012-10-29T04:47:18Z

My recovery goes on, and I have now started playing one session full time. My back still gets sore especially after a tough session, and I have been working to keep it loose and also strengthening it. The good news is that I am hitting the ball well and clean and the timing is back. I am still not sure when I will get back to my full training regimen.

My schedule remains the same. Get up at 6 – 6.15. Try to hit the road by 6.45. Start training by 730. Train till 10 and head back. It’s usually the Metro on the way back – unless my dad is travelling and I have the car to myself – and then the usual struggle to catch a bus/tempo/rickshaw for the final leg home.

I had this very weird experience on the bus last week. I took the bus back home from the Metro station as I couldn’t find anything else. This was my first time on the bus. The bus was jam packed with people. It was the type with the nonexistent door and was in a state of general disrepair. Add to that a very chilled out bus driver, who was playing ancient songs, mostly Punjabi on the radio and singing along to them. I was sitting next to this old woman , when suddenly out of the blue nudges me with her shoulder and tells me, ‘bade har*** ho aap! Now I thought this was a Hindi curse word but she seemed to say it with genuine affection. I still have no clue why she said that. Next time I meet her on the bus I am going to ask her why.

The Tennis Nationals have also been going on the past 2 weeks at DLTA. It’s a bit disappointing I haven’t been able to play it because of my injury; I don’t want to risk hurting my back. Most of the girls I was competing with did well at the tournament. This was probably one of my last chances to try for the under 18 title though I have another year to try for it. So there’s this huge board, with Fenesta Nationals written on it, and the board is more like a collage, which they’ve made out of the pictures of last year’s tournament players. Anyway there is this very unflattering picture of me, hitting a backhand. Basically my tongue is out, and my face is pink, and if that wasn’t bad enough they’ve blown the picture up, and used only my face. I can’t even walk past it without someone sniggering. I’m thinking of suing the tournament officials. The good news is that they think my photo may be a good draw so may be I can charge them for some endorsement fees.

I’m in Lucknow this week visiting my grandparents. Quick trip, just 2 days. I actually have quite a few relatives in Lucknow, both on my fathers and mothers side. I also visited my great grandmother who just turned the grand old age 95. I was just calculating; I’m 17 and she is 95 so she is approximately 6 times my age! Whoa! And she was 78 when I was born!!

Lucknow was short and sweet. I completely pigged out in Lucknow - panipuri , chaat and mutton kebabs….two things I just couldn’t get enough of! If any of you have not made the trip to Lucknow, I strongly suggest you make the trip only to try the different types of Awadhi cuisine – especially the kebabs. Considering how much I ate on this trip I’m pretty surprised I didn’t fall sick or anything, and I am definitely heavier. More fat to turn into muscle!

Back to Delhi tonight, and back to training. Hope to start playing competitively soon. This is the time when Asian tournaments happen so there is the added motivation to get fully ready.

Some Tennis & Lots of Homework!

2012-09-20T23:19:59Z

I have finally started playing tennis again. Not too much…just half an hour each day. It felt good to be back and meet the playing group. I thought they would be missing me, but they seemed just fine.

But last week was so humid. It was quite frankly…one of the worst weeks I could have chosen to start playing again. After 3 months, of being on bed rest, in which the most tiring activity done by me was shopping for my mom, starting to play again by tiring enough. Add to that the searing heat and humidity and….phew!

And to add to it I have my exams next month. Math and English. English is easy enough but math isn’t really my forte. And I also don’t see how learning what sine equals is going to help me in my future . But I’m treating it as a learning experience. Though not of math but of self control. If I had a penny for the amount of times I have had to restrain myself from starting a bonfire, and using my math books as the fuel, I’d be quite rich indeed!

Also because my tennis has started, my travelling in the metro has also started. And while I don’t mind travelling by metro...it gets a little unnerving sometimes. You can get some pretty nutty people in the metro. I have a friend who apparently got this crying baby shoved into her lap by a fed up mother. Who was a total stranger. And then you have the insensitive type. These types of people will rudely tell the other people sitting to move over even when it is clear that there is no space to move and then squeeze in ignoring the obvious discomfort of the other passengers. Guys. There is a reason why the bench is divided into a specific number of sections.

But some exciting stuff is going on! Its (drumroll please) my birthday next week! Or is it the week after? Anyway, the point is that I am turning seventeen on 28^th September! I still don’t know how I’m celebrating but I’m excited. My (twin) sister however doesn’t share my enthusiasm. She has a very morbid outlook. In fact when I told her hey…you know our birthday is coming up…she told me that she considers birthdays as the grave of the old year and that she was one year closer to her death. Total buzz kill.

Anyway my back has started feeling much better from last week. I guess the first the first week is always the worst. I intend to increase my intensity next week onwards and start testing my muscle strength a bit. I hope it holds up.

Off to that Math book now. See you later.

Back In Action

2012-09-04T17:13:12Z

Some good news! After nearly two and a half months of layoff due to injury I have finally healed enough to start playing again. I’m going to start sometime next week. I have a final physiotherapy session and then…..FREEDOM!!

It’s been a really interesting two months. I’ve done things which I’ve never done before and never thought I’d do. Stuff like wearing a sari. My doctor got married so I had to appear for the ceremony in an ‘appropriate’ garb. And my God! The amount of trauma I went through! I tripped over the sari like a million times. And this was while I standing still. I’m not even going to get into the mechanics of walking with that thing on.

I also redecorated my room. I basically covered all boring white spaces on my wall with pictures of my favorite athletes. So the first thing I see when I wake up is a huge poster of Michael Phelps staring at me with this really angry look on his face. A little unsettling the first few days but I got used to it! I painted, attended parties, danced and completely fell off the nutrition wagon these past couple of months. From volunteering at my school (being a writer for the NIOS children) to singing on Independence Day...I did it all!

I had long meaningful conversations with Devki, which basically involved explaining to her that the proper cricketing term was ‘Duckworth-Lewis’ and not ‘Dewdrop-Lewis’ and how the name of the band was Black Veil Brides, and not Black Heeled Brides! Can’t blame her though…the name Black Heeled Brides does have a certain charm to it! I also must introduce you to the concept of CCS, (Devki coined in the term), the full form of which is Certificate Collection Spree! Now Devki will be going to college next year and one of the things she needs or so she tells me is lots of certificates. Plant a Tree, teaching underprivileged children all this has already been done by her but apparently it is not enough. I told her to adopt a child…she’ll get all the certificates she will ever need, but for some reason she didn’t really warm up to the idea. Strange.

I’ll miss all this but I can’t wait to get back to training full time. I won’t be immediately going into full time training though. Though my injury has healed I still need to strengthen those muscles which were injured. I’ve started jogging and cycling a bit and doing a few exercises for the upper body. Nothing strenuous; just to get the body moving again!

I’M BACK!!

Olympics' Fever

2012-08-14T12:51:05Z

I’ve been watching the Olympics and reading the news and it was with a sense of shock that I realized that in this day and age sexism is still prevalent even on such a big stage as the Olympics.

There was an article in the newspaper a few days ago which was about the women athletes getting flak for being ‘fat.’ In fact the media called the Jessica Ennis ‘fat’.

This is Jessica Ennis. Winner of the Olympic gold in 2012 for the Heptathlon. Does she, in any way look fat? She is fit. No she’s not just fit she’s FIT!

I don’t see or hear any comments on the male athletes physique. Why? Not saying there should be but if you are calling the woman in the above picture fat, what’s stopping you from calling Usain Bolt fat? The problem in the world is that women are judged by their appearance. Why can one not judge us by how well we train and perform?

Fitness is different for different sports. You can’t expect the word fitness to apply to the same things in different sports. For example track and field athletes and weightlifters. Completely different sports, completely different meaning of fitness. One of the meanings of fitness is the quality of being physically suitable to fulfill a certain task. Track and field athletes are fit for track and field events. But put one of them into weightlifting...they are not fit. Because they are not physically suitable for it.

Women athletes, especially weightlifters get a lot of negative criticism on their size and looks. British weightlifter Zoe Smith was tweeted about by people saying she looked like a ‘lesbian’ and a ‘bloke’ But not just weightlifters.The Brazilian womens soccer team was called ‘a bit heavy’ by the coach of the Cameroon team. And Jessica Ennis with her rippling physique was called fat and was accused of carrying too much weight by a U.K athletics official!

I will give you another example. As a tennis player I keenly follow the sport. So many times I have come across people saying that they ‘hate’ Serena Williams. On being asked why they say that they don’t like the like the way she looks. How is that a reason for not liking a player. How can you judge someone on her appearance?

In a recent survey it was found that negative body image was one of the main reasons why girls did not want to get into sports as it was considered to be more important to be fat rather than fit. And by all this negative criticism and hateful tweets the thought is being implemented even more firmly into girls. How can one expect and want more women participating in sports if this is the message being given out?
The only way one can expect this change to happen is when we stop judging women on their looks and instead respect them for the hard work that the put in to compete at that level. These women bust their butts day in and day out. They work their whole lives to reach that level and attain that physique. These women are tough. And instead of calling them ‘fat’ we should look up to them and strive to be more like them.

Back Home

2012-07-23T06:30:49Z

some bad news. Its been about a week since I got back from the US. I actually pulled a muscle in my abs this time. And my back was acting up again so I wasn’t able to play the tournaments I had planned to. The doctor says it’ll take about 2-3 weeks for me to heal. So I’m on break now. So my Europe plan had to take a back seat for now. Disappointing, but I have to look after my body, I guess.

Rehab is a big part of most tennis players lives. I don’t know if you keep track but Maria Sharapova was in rehab for over 2 years before she got back this time. And my coach has told me that the reason my body’s breaking down is because I may not be completing my rehab and am getting back too soon. This year I have had three injuries and really not played without pain for more than two months at astretch.

So, this is my rehab plan. Physiotherapy and then (falsetto voice) “take rest my child.” There’s just no way I’m going to spend my whole day just sitting on my behind waiting for some injury to go away. For 2 weeks! Hell no! That ain’t happening. But one good thing was that I am getting time to do thing I normally don’t. Like watch a movie. Or have an evening out. In fact one evening here at Central Park in Gurgaon (that’s where I live) there was this thing called mango mania. They bought like 20 kilos of mangoes and put them in Oscars Pride. That’s a fancy name for the park. It sounds more stylish to say, ’Hey. I’m going to Oscars pride’ than ‘hey I’m going to the park’ right??

So back to the mangoes. They left the mangoes cooling in buckets of water and the idea was that people could just walk in pick up a mango from the bucket, and eat it. There were paper plates and forks and a guy with a knife who would cut the mangoes if you wished it. Not me though. Tore off the peel with my teeth and ate them. Delicious. I think I ate 8 mangoes that day. Possibly 9. All I remember is that I hadn’t eaten lunch that day, and I was hungry.

And there is just one movie I am dying to see. Dark Knight Rises. Its releasing on the 20^th July. And Devki (my sister) is an even bigger fan of the movie series than me. She’s watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight at least a hundred time each, and knows all the dialogues by heart. But I know she’s actually a fan of Christian Bale. I don’t know why she won’t admit it though. She keeps a saying that she’s not a fan of the actor, only the character Bruce Wayne. Hey…whatever works for you!

Hopefully I will be better by next week and at least start some form of physical activity and stretching. Im going stir crazy in here. My target is to get back to competitive tennis by mid August. It’s a busy Indian part of the season , but I will have to relook at my schedule to get some G1s and G2s under my belt overseas as those are the tournaments where one can get points and improve ones ranking.

I will keep you posted !

Training In New York

2012-07-03T06:30:31Z

This week we went to the beach here. My god it was cold. And windy!! But apart from that it was very nice! It was actually like rehab for our sore muscles because the water was like an ice bath and…well sea salt. I went to the beach with GarryTokas, Garry Singh the pro who works at the club and this new guy called Pravar. Nobody can ever remember his name Nish calls him parvati. Coach calls him Honey V. I don’t know why. His excuse is that in Pravars name the consonant ‘v’ is the most prominent. I still don’t get his logic!

We’ve known Garry Singh (we being the garry from delhi, I just knew OF him, never knew him personally) from before, as in I have seen him in tournaments in Delhi, the AITA ones (All India Tennis Association) This is his first year working at the Wholistic Tennis Club. Him and another guy called Richard. Though I think Richard has worked here before. Im not sure though. So Garry Singhs full name is Garry Singh Amor. Now Amor in Spanish means love. And Singh in hindi means lion king. So we were just kidding around with Garry telling him that his last name was literally “the lion king of love!’ and we were like, dude that’s a hard name to live up to! And then in walks Richard and then, we just asked him his last name and he was like ‘Hornby’ His name was Richard Hornby! Taljk about a funny coaching combination !!

Speaking of Vishaal, my coach he has been very tough with us of late. Oneday we’re watching the US Open, a golf tournament and Garry Tokas just asked who was the person who has won the most majors in golf. I remembered reading something about it on the net, but I wasn’t really certain because I don’t really follow golf, so I just said-some Nicklaus guy, I don’t know his first name, and he just jumped at me saying that you cant call one of the sporting greats that, and its not sporting etiquette and that I was a sportsperson so I should know better and demonstrate respect. Then he put us through some seriously punishing training sessions. Point taken Vishaal sir !!

Sorry about that. Just a little emotional unloading going on here. But apart from that its been a really good week. I got acupuncture done again to release some muscles, and on Saturday we went to the track to run some 400m sprints and do track training – my timings are now looking really good. Now that 2 weeks are up, the countdown to the end of the month begins!! Specific drill work and specific training begins on improvement items to get me tournament ready.