After Kolkata and Hyderabad, it was the turn of the Capital’s tennis-loving crowd to watch some live action involving the legendary Martina Navratilova, and the doubles specialists Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.
It was meant to be a fun-filled evening with the ‘exhibition’ of some fine strokes and deft touches. Often, smiles were exchanged across the net as the players, almost by turns, played to the galleries. In spite of the nature of the event, the crowd involvement was limited.
On Friday, the 59-year-old Navratilova looked the most serious among the four on the court. She and Paes won the first set 6-2 and matched Sania and Bhupathi until 5-5. But, the Indian pair claimed the last two games to draw level. As a result, the match ended 1-1.
For the record, Sania and Bhupathi emerged victorious in Kolkata on Wednesday. The following day, it was Leander who joined hands with the home favourite at Hyderabad to end up on the winning side.
It was Navratilova’s day out. She made her presence felt with some classic volleys. Early on in the first set, she passed Bhupathi with a forehand cross-court shot. A point later, she surprised Sania with a down-the-line pass. It was vintage stuff from Navratilova. For those who fell in love with sport in the 1970s and watched the all-conquering Czech sweep titles at will, it was indeed a treat.
Describing Leander as her “favourite mixed doubles player,” Navratilova said she was “nervous” to play before “a lot of people.”