Prakash Amritraj is banking on Chennai crowd's support to overcome the tough challenge of Schuettler and beat the blues of the Indian government's ban on non-native players
Prakash Amritraj celebrates with the Indian national flag after his victory in the singles match against Uzbekistan's Farrukh Dustov in the Davis Cup tie in New Delhi last year. Amritraj is playing in the Chennai Open. PIC/AP
Prakash Amritraj is banking on Chennai crowd's support to overcome the tough challenge of Schuettler and beat the blues of the Indian government's ban on non-native players
Prakash Amritraj already behaves like a veteran tennis player. He has calmness about him that many yearn for and the nonchalance that could potentially be a double-edged sword.
But even Amritraj knows he'll have to pull one out of the hat to make it past fifth seed Rainer Schuettler, who is coming off a great 2008, in the Chennai Open.
To add to Amritraj's woes, there will be the added pressure of having to perform to prove himself. All eyes will be on him to see how he responds to the recent India ban and if he shows the government's policy to be short-sighted. However, the dashing 25-year-old is phasing out all the noises to concentrate on the short-term challenge of Schuettler.
"I've only thought about the Open and nothing else for the past few weeks. I'm focused on the ATP Tour and everything else comes second. I have been practicing hard to forget everything and keep only this target on my mind."
Amritraj's chances against Schuettler may be slim, but he hopes the crowd does not think of him as a non-India player and fully backs him. "I've always felt good playing here and I know the court very well. Hopefully, the crowd keeps supporting me and keeps pushing me to go that extra yard. This is not the draw anybody would have liked but I have to go with it."
Amritraj is also hoping a decent doubles campaign at the Open will help him gain momentum in a crucial year.
"Somdev (Devvarman) and I are really gelling well and hopefully this is the start of a good partnership. Both of us did pretty well last year and it will rub off on each other," he added.
He's certainly the centre of attention in Chennai at every interview he steadfastly denied the ban had affected him. Getting away from the glare is not easy but Amritraj's mantra is practice, practice, practice. And from the look of things he's ready to invest a lot of time in it when some people do not let him go out and play.
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