The slip betwixt cup and lips

“Ma, we have to go to see Rafa,” my son pleaded with me. The India-Spain Davis Cup play-offs were on and Rafael Nadal was coming to Delhi. “It’s a once in lifetime opportunity to watch a legend like Rafa play and we may never get the chance again,” he reasoned.   

We managed to get hold of the passes for the tie. They turned out to be for the “Presidential Box.” “Ma, it could be like the Royal Box at Wimbledon where celebrities like David Beckham are seated. We may even rub shoulders with some who’s who of Delhi. It may be close to the dug-out of the teams and we may be able to see the players from close quarters, and if lucky, get an autograph or better still, a selfie,” my son was super excited.

Since we were keen on the first singles rubber which Rafa was supposed to play, we passed on the passes for the doubles to a friend.

We reached the stadium on time. The gates were closed. “It’s already full house,” the guard manning the gates said. “But we have valid passes…for the presidential box,” we flashed our rectangular prized possessions with a flourish. “And so do we,” many others crowding the gates echoed in chorus. Reluctantly, the fellow opened the gates and we stormed in. The place was choc-a-bloc with spectators. The 5,000-seat stadium had people ten times its capacity.

Passes, it seemed, had been doled out freely to all and sundry. The week-long coverage in the newspapers had revved up the interest and the whole city seemed to have turned up to watch Rafa. There was no space to even stand properly. The “Presidential Box” was nowhere in sight. We jostled our way in and took up seats on the concrete steps leading to the seats.

The first tie began between India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. Rafa was there in the dug-out alright but not playing, as it turned out. ‘He has an upset stomach or an injured wrist, so he may not be playing at all,’ murmurs began doing the rounds. It was a huge disappointment, though Ramkumar did not disappoint.

The young lad put up a valiant show and even wrested a set from the much higher ranked Spaniard. The atmosphere was festive. A live music band played between games, along with peppy Hindi songs on loudspeakers, not to mention the loud, boisterous Indian fans. In between, Ramkumar, too, pumped up his fists at his fans to ratchet up support for himself. It was great fun though our bottoms hurt from sitting on the solid rock surface and we couldn’t sit through the second match.  

The second day saw Rafa teaming up with Marc Lopez for the doubles fixture. The match had some great moments as the Indian duo put up a spirited fight. We saw the proceedings on TV while our friend with the day’s passes watched it live on court with his son. That’s life, I guess.