Tempers fly high at Khar Gymkhana

A marathon 3-hour 15-minute semifinal ended with Maharastra lad Ronak Manuja flinging his tennis racquet in anger across the court into the net at the All India men’s open tennis tournament at Khar Gym on Saturday. 

In a match that had its share of high quality shots, long breaks, and drama, eighth seed Saurav Sukul prevailed over the local lad 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2.

The match was neck and neck all the way. But when Saurav was serving at 3-2 in the third set, he started cramping and took a break to tend to his leg. Despite cramping badly after this, Saurav stuck in firm digging in deep to clinch the final set 6-2. Ronak was visibly upset by the time taken by his opponent and seemed to lose his rhythm and cool though he came up with a few brilliant ground strokes.

An angry Ronaksaid after the match, “He was given more time than a medical time-out and there is no doctor so we don’t get a medical time out. In Round 1 when I needed a medical time out I was given a warning. The treatment should be fair to all the players, there is no clarity in the rules.”

He also said that he would be lodging a complaint to both the MSLTA and ITF. Tournament supervisor Anton D’Souza kept his cool. “Whether a doctor is there or not depends on the organisers. A doctor is compulsory for ITF events. I stand by my decision,” the tournament official said.

In the second semifinal, third seed and Maharastra lad Aditya Madkekar gave local fans something to cheer about on Maharastra Day when he knocked out top seed Yannick Nedlord winning 6-2 4-6 6-1.

Results: 3-Aditya Makekar (Mah) bt 1-Yannick Nedlord (Dli) 6-2 4-6 6-1; 8-Saurav Sukul (WB) bt 6-Ronak Manuja (Mah) 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2