Yuki Bhambri -great potential

Just saw Yuki Bhambri lose against Janko Tipsarevic 1-6, 3-6.
The first set - he probably was still getting used to the fact that he was playing against somebody that outranked him (345 to 9 ) so hugely. Towards the end of the set he started showing some color that was heartening.
The second set - was an entirely different story. He fought back very well.
His two-handed backhand cross courts were pretty accurate and kept Tipsarevic in check.
His skills at running around his backhand ( once even in a service return!) are awesome. Whenever he took Janko on for long, he did have pretty good success. His strokes - drop shots, forehands and backhands were a treat to watch.
He lost out repeatedly to Janko's super-accurate down-the-line shots that always seemed to hit the lines.
 
His serves really need some work - 150-160km/hr against Janko's 190km/hr with the first serve, and 120km/hr second serves. He still did pretty good damage with them on the ad court where he repeatedly ran around his backhand and hit winners.
But his performance against Janko's serve also requires some work.
His fitness levels look pretty good - doesn't seem to tire even after the long rallies he was having with Janko.

Yuki - here's wishing a great year ahead to you - and hope you scale great heights. This new fan will surely be around to cheer you!  :)

Sania not playing in India..

So, who's benefitting from this?

We can break up the populace into several categories
1. Sania / Her folks
2. Tournament Organizers
3. Press
4. Fans/ Tennis lovers/ Kids who emulate her
5. People who have problems with her

1. Sania /Her folks: No benefit.
She's started a controversy that will kick up each time there is a tournament in India. So, she's not free from the talk.
She's bound to lose some money/rankings in the process -both prize money & ad revenue.
She doesn't get to play in her home country.

2. Tournament organizers: She's definitely a great sell - both with her excellent game, and looks. Their takings will definitely reduce, and reduce such tournaments from happening in India.

3. Press : These guys might profit some - by raking more muck out of this, and filling up pages with crap. But the balance is more or less even coz they don't get to write about her great plays either. But its not like ppl really buy their stuff to read about tennis matches. So, they probably benefit more from muck raking than the game.

4. Fans/ People that adore her - They lose out big time. They can't see her play, can't get autographs, shake hands with her.. etc. etc. And anyway its not like any fan of her game was yelling about her clothes, her fidelity towards islam, etc.

5. People who have problems with her: These clearly don't care about tennis, or appreciate her game. They do lose some opportunity to bicker. But they'll be back at it the moment she starts playing in India again.
And anyway its not like international matches aren't telecast. For the really determined that want to make sure she's not disrespecting issue X, there's no stopping. In fact, this would even be claimed as a victory for those folks.
This could also increase the activities of such wagging tongues against other players.

Some ppl are saying this is a 'boycott' against intolerance. That doesn't make sense to me. In a boycott, you aim your activity against a set of people that benefit by your normal activity - using their service/product/etc.
Who are the targets here? Ppl that don't care anyway whether she plays or not. They'll go back to picking their noses or whatever until they see some dog peeing in the wrong direction.


Conclusion: Only the muck raking section of the press, and the maniacs holding demonstrations, filing court cases, and hogging some airwaves are benefitted.