Courting it right

The Parsee Gymkhana at Marine Drive in Bombay has bounced back into the city’s tennis circuit with the opening of a modern new tennis court. "It is a synthetic grass court, imported from Italy, the first of its kind in Bombay. It is of ITF (International Tennis Federation) approved quality,” describes sports enthusiast and Gymkhana member Firdaus Shroff. The Gymkhana boasted of four tennis courts in 1887 and three courts in 1960, but since then has lacked a tennis facility for 50 long years, notes Khodadad Yazdegardi, one of the vice presidents of the Gymkhana. The Parsee Gymkhana tennis courts were taken over by the Railways and members were provided the facility of practicing at the Wodehouse Gymkhana, virtually making them absentee members of the Parsi sporting bastion.
The inauguration on November 10, 2011 had Bucky Bhesania, partner of the well-known solicitors’ firm of Mulla & Mulla & Craigie, Blunt and Caroe, as the chief guest. Marzban Dhanbhoora, president of the Gymkhana, welcomed the guests who included officials of Bombay’s leading clubs and sporting institutions like the Cricket Club of India, the Bombay and Hindu Gymkhanas, etc. Also on the dais was Bharat Oza, secretary of the All India Tennis Association and the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association. Rusi Bhumgara, Gymkhana vice president, was the master of ceremonies. Mustafa Ghouse, former men’s national champion, and Tahir Ali, senior national tennis coach, were among the young and old who graced the occasion. Bhesania recalled the time he was a regular at courts of a different kind (tennis) as were several other well-known professional people.

Top row, from left: Rusi Bhumgara, Marzban Dhanbhoora, Bucky Bhesania and Bharat Oza, Sonal Phadke, Firdaus Shroff, Ram Maheshwari and Sagarika Phadke; middle row: Bhesania inaugurating the Parsee Gymkhana court, Naseeruddin Shah opens the Wodehouse Gymkhana facility; the new floodlit courts

The committee of the Parsee Gym­khana invited sisters Sonal and Sagarika Phadke, who are national/state ranked players, to play an exhibition mixed doubles match, with Ram Maheshwari and Shroff completing the quartet. "All the players liked the surface. It felt soft on the feet and the ball bounce was low, like the grass of Wimbledon, but even all over the court. The floodlit ambience was really super and the bridge of the adjoining railway tracks was full of people looking in envy at the new facility,” Shroff enthuses.
The Parsee Gymkhana, with its beautiful sea-facing ambience and old world charm, had celebrated its 125th anniversary on February 25, 2010. On that occasion, chief guest Sam Variava, former judge of the Supreme Court and a Gymkhana member, had quoted a remark made by Jamsetji Tata, the then chairman of the Gymkhana, at an annual general meeting way back in 1891! "The allurements of tennis have proved too strong for several cricketers during the off season and (have) induced them to neglect the more manly game.” Variava had laughingly admitted that for him too it was his interest in tennis and not in "the more manly game” that induced him in 1957 to join the Gymkhana soon after passing out of school.
The inauguration of the tennis court chalks out new game plans! "The response has been great. At least 15-20 people play daily and the floodlight timings are used the most. They want to begin coaching and I have been asked to assist with the coaching of children and adults, whoever wishes to enroll,” states Shroff who runs a sports consultancy and has also started sports infrastructure development like making tennis, badminton, basketball and squash courts, athletic tracks, football fields, hockey turf, etc throughout India.
Barely two months later, on January 6, 2012, Wodehouse Gymkhana also inaugurated new tennis courts! "Wodehouse Gymkhana celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010 and for the most part of that period had the original clay (cow-dung surface) courts. This is a pleasant change for the future development of sport and tennis in particular at the Gymkhana. This excellent facility with state-of-the-art courts will be a boon to the club and those members who wish to avail of the same,” tennis secretary Khushrow B. Shroff informed Parsiana.
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah was the chief guest at the inauguration. International ranked player Kyra Shroff, her coach and former Davis Cup player Srinath and Rishi Sridhar (who made the courts) exchanged rallies with Shah. "The cow-dung we played on has gone forever!” exclaims Kyra’s father Firdaus who has been a tennis member for 30 years. "The new courts look great and play even better! Now we can hold tournaments and play at night. It feels good to have courts of international quality.”