Experience will stand Prakash in good stead
Times of India - January 1, 2003

The opening day was a disappointing one for the spectators at Nungambakkam Stadium as they saw three Indians bow out one after the other. Leander Paes went down fighting to the Argentine, Juan Igancio Chela while Prakash Amritraj lost to Jiri Vanek and Rohan Bopanna lost to Zeljka Krajan. I thought Paes really played remarkably well against Chela, who is a regular singles player in top tournaments these days. Paes had come into this tournament with very little practice in singles.

He has played very little singles outside of the Davis Cup of late, but still managed to give the Argentine a run for his money. Being accustomed to the crowd support garnered by Indians during the Tata Open — he has been coming here since the tournament started — he was able to use it to his advantage, unlike the other two Indians. Young Prakash was a little bit overawed by the situation and went down rather tamely to the more experienced Vanek.

I have seen him play a lot better than he did on Monday. I guess he will have to just chalk this down as a good experience, and learn from it for the future. The best news came in the form of the spirited fight put up by Bopanna against Zeljka Krajan. The Indian lost 4-6, 6-7, but he played good tennis and should have won the second set. What finally made the difference was the match experience that Krajan had on his side.

By the time you read this, both Mark Phillipousis and Paradorn Srichapan would have completed their first-round matches. Everybody, including me, expects the two of them to sail through so if either of them crashes out, it would be a major upset. However, there is plenty of excitement and anticipation about seeing the two players, who are the most charismatic ones in the singles draw here.

While the Indians have not been able to go too far in the singles, there are plenty of them in the doubles. My match against Phillippousis and Justin Gimelstob is scheduled on New Year's Day, and both Todd and I are practising hard.