Slovenia 2: India 1. But that’s not the Whole Story
The scoreline may have read 2 Slovenia and 1 India. But scorelines, like they often do, reveal very little.
The day started off with India’ Shrivalli Bhamidipaty taking on Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia. The scoreline showed a 3-6 6-4 6-1 loss for Shrivalli. But what it doesn’t fully tell you is that Shrivall,i ranked 381 in the world went neck to neck against a Former World Number 22 and 2021 Roland Garros semi-finalist, Zidansek. What it doesn’t tell you is the quality of tennis Shrivalli displayed, her powerful groundstrokes and serves. What it doesn’t tell you is that it enthralled hundreds of spectators who showed up at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium in Bengaluru.
The match began slowly for Shrivalli. She lost her serve twice in the first 4 games, and couldn’t break Zidansek either. At 4-0 down, it looked like the match would be a one sided affair. Shrivalli however had other ideas. Playing some scintillating groundstrokes, she broke Zidansek and held her own serves. At 3-4, she was still a break down, but Shrivalli was playing some great tennis. While Shrivalli lost her own serve again after multiple deuces at 3-5 to lose the 1st set 3-6, you could sense a momentum shift.
She broke Zidansek in the very first game, and held her own serve after being 0-40 down. She was dominating now. The second set saw Shrivalli play some domineering tennis, dictating the play and soon she was up 5-1. There was however a momentum shift again, and this time it wasn’t in Shrivalli’s favour. Shrivalli was broken, Zidansek held her own serves, and the pressure was on Shrivalli to serve to win the set. She did, but only after some jitters. She couldn’t convert 2 of her first 3 SPs and only converted the third to take the set home 6-4.
The third set didn’t go Shrivalli’s way. She was broken early and never really found her rhythm in the third. Zidansek to her credit, was showcasing a defensive masterclass. Shrivalli too couldn’t find the consistency she found in the 2nd set. The set was lost 1-6 and with that, the match.
Next up was 309th ranked Sahaja Yamalapalli taking on 98th ranked Kaja Juvan. This match was of a completely different pace, more attritional, compared to the first match of the tie. There were drop shots, slices, lobs and great angles. It was a close contest, with neither player giving the other an inch. Sahaja was broken while serving at 3-3, but Sahaja broke back the very next game with some ridiculous forehands and dropshots. At 4-4, the match was back at parity and it looked like momentum was in Sahaja’s favour. However, an untimely double fault cost Sahaja’s serve, and couldn’t break back. 4-6 the score read. But again, the scoreline didn’t tell the full story of Sahaja’s use of angles, slices and defence.
Much like the third set of the first tie, the second second was one sided. Sahaja couldn’t find her range, and barely got a look in. 2-6 read the score.
India were 2-0 down and Slovenia had already qualified for the World Group. India however didn’t leave the crowd disappointed winning the dead rubber doubles tie 1-6 6-3 [10-7]. Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare played some great tennis to give India a consolation win.
Slovenia 2- India 1.
But the scorelines don’t tell the full story. It doesn’t tell you how loudly the crowd cheered for India. It doesn’t tell you how many young girls were at the stadium inspired by the show put on by the Indians. Shrivalli said later in her press conference that she hoped they had inspired many Indian girls. The Indian team most definitely did that today.
