15 years is a long time to pass by. Time has change, society has change and above all we as individual have changed. Once, dressed up in all whites, month of July-August were used to be returning to school after summer break and now, it is the usual office hours, waiting for weekend, waiting for next public holiday & waiting for the Diwali/Christmas break. As I was driving to office, few school kids, dressed in those similar whites were just about to jump into the bus. One of them caught my eye and took me to the summer of 1996. The kid had a tennis racquet, brand HEAD, in his bag.
Tennis, my first love, my first medal and my first shot to fame in school. We used to have every year intra-school tennis championship. Draws were generally made by our school teacher who used to favor the bigger boys of sports. Still these things were part of the game. No game is fair and we were prepared to meet the tough guys well ahead, so they get to play with each other at a later point of time.
My first tournament started on a very strange note, I was not facing any of the top-senior players. When the draw was posted on the our school notice board, all my classmates were excited. For the first time, I was supposed to play under pressure (as my classmates expect me to win) and was a clear underdog, whom the senior fear to play. It was really a blessing in disguise. I was happy that my opening game was against my friend, with whom I have practiced a lot. We knew each other game in-out. My backhand was stronger than my forehand and he knew it.
The one match of 96, which I can't forget is the semi-final, where I was up against the last year runner-up, Kunal (senior by a year). A chubby fellow, yet a fit one. I was no match to his serve or his shots, but I had the never-to-say-die attitude. Due to lack of time, it was a best of 1 set match i.e. first to reach 6 or more games with a lead of two wins. Down 1-5, I was serving 30-40, match point; a simple lob during the point gave Kunal the easiest shot to close the match. Strangely he messed up the point by giving it back to me. I can still remember the sensation in my hand and the thumping of the fist, when I saved that match point.
From there on, it was a new story, one I wrote and also etched in the memory of my classmates. As my doubles partner was standing in disbelief, I held my server to go 2-5, broke Kunal 0-40, to make it 3-5, held my serve with 2 aces down the line to come inching close 4-5. The next game was the one which made me most happy. Kunal had lost his temper; one of the line calls where he left the balling thinking was out, was called in by the line-umpire. There was lot of name-calling and high temper, finally calm down by the organizer. After number of deuces, finally I took the game to level 5-games a piece.
The match which had started at 5 in the evening had already gone up to 6:15. Lights generally starts to fade around 6:30-45 and hence the organizer, who himself was staying back just to watch this battle in disbelief, proposed to play tie-breaker. It is a school tournament and rules can change easily. Kunal had already given up and tie-breaker was no challenge. Easily I raced to a 6-3 point score and then the biggest irony happened. I too got a high volley and was a smash away from victory. I too hit it miserably and the ball was going way out. Sadly for Kunal, his body had taken too much pain/strain and it hit flush on his tummy, awarding me the 7th point in the tie-break.
As I enter office, parking my car, the smile on the face was for the past, the taste of winning that semi-final and also hitting one of the snobbish seniors who mend rules at will. Victory does taste sweet :)
And yeah before I end, I lost the 3-sets final 4-6 6-4 6-2 to Kunal's doubles partner, Shivam. I was the first from my class to go on the podium for the yearly sports championship in our school. I wore all white, a new dress while receiving my first of many Tennis medals (a Silver).
