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| In 1928, T K Ramanathan, then a strapping young
man of eighteen tramped past a tennis club in George Town on his way
to and back from work. Often he stopped and watched from the road
– fascinated by the game – the ball being hit back and
forth. Sometimes when everyone had left for the day, he would sneak
in and hit a few balls with the marker. This was the beginning of
his fascination for the game which was to last not just all his life,
but the lives of his family and students and dominate the Indian tennis
scene for years to come. Hailing from the village of Tenkasi near
Tirunelveli, T K Ramanathan belonged to an agricultural family. Through
sheer hard work and persistence he rapidly picked up the game and
was soon the best player in the south. |
| Later he migrated to Delhi and held a job
in the civil service. It was then that he had the most memorable
experience. His talent as a tennis player was widely known,
and one day he received a note asking him to play a game of
tennis with the Viceroy. Ramanathan was to play regularly with
the Viceroy and constantly improve his game. Soon he was ranked
No.3 in the country after Ghaus Mohammed and Iftikar Muhammed.
This was a long road to have travelled for a boy from Tirunelveli
who started tennis at the age of eighteen. Unfortunately for
Ramanathan, the war broke out in 1939 and he never represented
India in the Davis Cup. However by 1947 he had a new challenge.
His son Krishnan was ten years old and Ramanathan was determined
he should start tennis early. |
| Recalls Krishnan, “Like most Indian
boys I was interested in cricket, in team games – but
my father wanted me to play tennis. He coached me, and now at
61, I can say I would do the same thing again if I could. I
only have happy memories.” |
| At the time, tennis as a career was not a
big idea. Yet Krishnan with the advantage of his father’s
coaching was to rise to become one of India’s best players. |
| Reminisces a colleague – “His
father taught him a lot about strategy – Krishnan was
a very good strategist and could change his game to suit his
opponent.” |
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| Undoubtedly the best coach in India, T K Ramanathan
was to produce many players who played a big role in Indian tennis
– both in the men’s and women’s circuit. |
| His students other than his son and grandsons include
players like Lakshmi Mahadevan. |
| But undoubtedly his son’s performance was
his greatest achievement as Krishnan’s record of two Wimbledon
semi-finals by an Indian is yet to be broken. |
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But Ramanathan’s challenge with tennis was not yet over.
His grandson Ramesh was born to the sound of his father hitting
the tennis ball.
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| Says Ramesh, “He coaxed me into the game at
a very early age – my father was away a lot and I spent most
of my time with my grandfather. A lot of the habits I have today were
instilled by him. I think of him as a kind of benevolent dictator.
He instilled in me a love for the game.” |
| T K Ramanathan’s greatest moment came when
both his grandchildren Ramesh and his cousin Shankar, played against
each other for the national title. |
| In fact the manner in which the family – grandfather,
father and son dominated the tennis scene in India for decades is
perhaps unique in all the world. |
| Recalls Krishnan, “My father never had money
to buy his first racquet. He sold my mother’s bangles to raise
the money. But later he had the bangles remade and gave them back
– we’ve come a long way since then.” |
| His other students too have fond memories of him.
V K Parthasarathy – a student of his who was to perform creditably
well at the National level recalls fondly. |
| “He was a strict disciplinarian. He once took
us to a movie house to watch the news reel featuring Krishnan playing
a Davis Cup match. The minute that was over he wanted us to leave.
We wanted to stay and watch as the movie was Seven Year Itch. But
to no avail.” |
| A student of the old school, Ramanathan put a lot
of emphasis on baseline tennis – on length, angles and steadiness. |
| “In fact,” laughs one student,
“he played such long matches that they carried over to
the next day.” |
| T K Ramanathan influenced a whole generation
of students who learnt from him not just how to play the game,
but to love it. |
| Through them and his family, Indian tennis
was to seek greater heights and newer horizons. |
| In 1990, T K Ramanathan died – but the
legacy he left behind still lives on. |
| Reproduced with permission from Citi-India,
a magazine of Citibank. |
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