Chennai: Cyclone Thane has left the shore, the rains have stopped, the sun is sneaking through, it is January again and it's time for some tennis. As the Aircel Chennai Open starts at the SDAT Stadium Nungambakkam on Monday it also heralds a new season.
After weeks of sweating it out during the off season, hitting thousands of balls across the net, running miles to and fro inside a coloured rectangle, it's time to deliver for the players. It's time to test their wits.
Three years ago, when Somdev Devvarman walked into Chennai Open folklore with a place in the final he was actually saving the 2009 edition of the tournament - in which the top-seed Nikolay Davydenko pulled out mid-way - from obscurity. Of course, he lost the final to Marin Cilic, but by then he had carved a niche for himself.
TOI
