Akhtar had a hand in all good players to come out of India: Ramanathan Krishnan
KOLKATA: When Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan, father and son, say that with Akhtar Ali around there was always laughter, you know how easily he straddled generations. With son Zeeshan, India Davis Cup coach, the family’s association with tennis will remain vibrant after Ali’s death, aged 81, on Sunday from multiple health issues. But as Krishnan Senior said: “People will miss him a lot because for 65 years he was part of Indian tennis.”
A small man with a good backhand slice, Ali rose from humble origins to become an India junior champion in 1955 and make the semi-finals of the Wimbledon juniors. He played eight Davis Cup ties between 1958 and 1964 and won an eastern India men’s squash competition. But it was as non-playing tennis captain of India and coach that he touched lives. Till recently, he would run a coaching programme at the Calcutta South Club, his home away from a home that wasn’t far away. From Ramanathan, Gaurav Misra through Ramesh Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Leander Paes, Zeeshan Ali, Syed Fazaluddin, Enrico Piperno to Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza—and that is just skimming the surface—ali was a constant through eras. “He
had a role to play in all the good players to have come out of India. He had good knowledge mainly because of the practical experience. He was a friend of tennis,” said Ramanathan, 83, from Chennai. Ramanathan played the Wimbledon singles semi-final in 1960 and 1961.
It was Ali, then Davis Cup coach, who had convinced Krishnan to pair with Jaideep Mukerjea instead of his regular partner Premjit Lall in that epic Davis Cup tie against Brazil in 1966 which took India to the final, then called the Challenge Round, against Australia.
“He was a good judge of people. He knew my match temperament because he,
Premjit and I played together (at South Club). In Wimbledon, we (Ramanathan-mukerjea) made the quarter-final in our only time together. It was because of him our doubles career blossomed. It is sad he missed out on a Dronacharya. His contribution to world tennis and not just Indian tennis was immense,” said Mukerjea, 78. The Arjuna in 2000 for his contribution felt like better late than never.
At a time when the idea of a European country appointing an Indian as coach would sound preposterous—it still does—ali was chief coach of Belgium (1980-84). He also had two stints as Malaysia’s head coach. Ali also travelled with former India captain
Vijay Amritraj. “Vijay would tell players looking at me in surprise, ‘don’t go by his size’,” Ali would say with a laugh if you caught him in the mood at South Club. Such conversations would usually be accompanied with Chinese from the club or at least a cup of tea if you disappointed him by saying you were full. Conversations that would always end with, “God bless you.”
“Akhtar Ali was terrific as a coach .... Always pushed hard n kept the team relaxed. He did great service to Indian Tennis. RIP dear Aktar. Sincere condolences to Zeeshan n his lovely family,” Amritraj tweeted.
Ali took a shine on Ramesh, “because he was my son,” said Ramanathan. For Ramesh, 59, Ali was someone who handheld India’s juniors every season. And who would help them through the European juniors’ circuit. “He wouldn’t hesitate to walk up to anyone, say Pancho Gonzales or a Stan Smith at Queens and say, ‘why don’t you come and hit some balls with Ramesh?’. Left to myself, I would be shy to go and approach them. But not him. It was at Queen’s Club that I was introduced to Rod Laver by him. Will always remember that,” said Ramesh, who played from 1978 to 1993 and made the singles quarterfinals of Wimbledon (1986) and US Open (1981, 1987).