Super kings in Chennai

Somdev Devvarman proved 2009 wasn’t a flash in the pan, Mrs Sania Mirza made it clear that tennis is still her first priority, the ‘Indian Express’ decided it’s time to get back on track and Rohan Bopanna showed again that Indians and Pakistanis can not only co-exist but also thrive. However, the red-letter event in Indian tennis this year was the historic Davis Cup World Group play-off triumph over Brazil in Chennai.

It was hot and humid but the South Americans defied the conditions to go up 2-0 after the opening day. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi pulled one back on Day Two. Going into the final day, India were chasing history. Not many teams had fought back in such fashion but that’s exactly what India did. Rohan Bopanna coolly won the decider after Somdev’s opponent, Thomaz Bellucci, threw in the towel. The 3-2 win helped the hosts join the elite World Group.

Somdev also ensured India had a good outing at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, where he won gold in the singles as well as the doubles, partnering young Sanam Singh. In addition, India won a silver in mixed doubles (Sania Mirza/Vishnu Vardhan) and bronze in both the women’s singles (Sania) and men’s team event. It was a major improvement from the rather indifferent performance in the Commonwealth Games where they could managed only a gold (Somdev, singles), apart from a silver (Sania, singles) and two bronze medals (Lee-Hesh and Sania/Rushmi Chakravarti). What’s more, Somdev also reached a career-high ranking of 94 in October.

As far as Sania is concerned, 2010 saw her career receive a big boost after a poor form and a career-threatening wrist injury kept her out for a while. The year was even more special as she tied the knot with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik after a not-so-smooth build-up. Her season ended on a perfect note after she beat World No 80 Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia in the final of the $75,000 13th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge in Dubai. Sania ended the year ranked 141.

Meanwhile, Paes continued his top form at the big stage. The 37-year-old began this year by winning the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Cara Black. He then snatched the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with the same partner to become India’s leading Grand Slam winner, going past Bhupathi’s record of 11 titles. The year also saw Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi make the finals of the

US Open where they lost
to the Bryan Brothers. The Pakistani’s heart-warming speech and the duo’s consistent showing throughout the year earned them
the ATP’s Humanitarian Award as well.