Gaurav Natekar needs no introduction. A former India Number One Lawn Tennis Player and son of accomplished Badminton player, Nandu Natekar, Gaurav has played Davis Cup for seven years and has won the Asian Games Doubles Gold and the Arjuna Award. He retired from the game in 1998 and along with wife Arati (nee Ponnappa, a noted tennis player herself), has only recently started a Tennis academy for beginners at the Balewadi Sports Complex.

Poonabest caught up with Gaurav and got an insight into his Life. Excerpts:

Q. Gaurav, despite your father being a famous badminton player, how come you chose tennis?
A. I was always fond of outdoor sports and took an instant liking to tennis and decided to take it up seriously.

Q. You attended the Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) academy, how do you think it helped you in bettering your game?
A. I was playing in Mumbai in 1985 when I got selected for the BAT academy in Chennai. I was there for a period of five years. At the academy we were exposed to the latest techniques and coaching, we really discovered ourselves during that period.

Q. What in your opinion is the reason for no Indian player doing well in the ATP circuit?
A.  I think Indians come from basically a family-oriented environment. One can get quite lonely on these tours and after a point
sorely miss the support system crucial to push one to make it to the top.

Q. When did you start playing as a professional?
A.  I started playing tennis at the age of 7 .It was in 1988-89 that I began my career as a tennis professional.

Q. What was your first feeling when you made it to the Indian Davis Cup team in 1992?
A. It felt great when I came out into the stadium as a part of the Indian team that was to play Great Britian. At that time the Indian team consisted of Leander Paes, Ramesh Krishnan, Zeeshan Ali and myself.

Q. What would be the highlight of your playing career?
A. I have several to recount. The Davis Cup matches I played, the Asian Games, my first National Games all gave me a high. One really major highlight in my career was winning the Team and Men’s Doubles Gold in 1994 at Hiroshima in partnership with Leander Paes. I think at that point in time, it was a major highlight of both our careers.

Q. You were awarded the Arjuna Award in 1998. What were your feelings then?
A.  It was only the second time in the History of the Arjuna Awards that a father and son duo had received the award. The other duo being Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan. It was a moment that I would always cherish in life, the time I walked up to the dais to receive the award from the President of India.

Q. You retired young- when a lot of people thought that you still had a few years of playing left. Any particular reason why you decided to quit the game?
A. I retired when I was 26. At that time I felt that my career was not heading anywhere. During the same period I had a couple of personal tragedies, so I thought it was best for me to move on and settle down to my next job.

Q. What was your next assignment that you just mentioned?
A. I was Director of Coaching for the Mahrashtra  Lawn Tennis Association in Mumbai for the year 1999-2000.

Q. You got married in 2000, was it on the cards or it just happened?
A. Arati my wife is also a Tennis player who has represented the country in the Federation Cup. The only thing I would say is that we met and we hit it off, so in January 2000 we got married.

Q. Now that you have moved to Pune- what kind of coaching activities do you undertake?
A We have a tennis center at the Pune club, which Arati manages, and now I have started a coaching academy at the Balewadi sports complex. We have got into coaching as Tennis is perceived as an elitist sport and I want it to reach out to the
middle Classes.

Q. Why is Tennis viewed as a rich mans sport?
A. The playing equipment and everything else connected with the game has become expensive, so it is increasingly becoming a rich man's sport..

Q. How did the Pune Club assignment come through?
A. Artai wanted to start coaching when she moved to Pune after our marriage. At that time The Pune club approached us to take it up and so we started the coaching program.

Q. How has the response to the Pune Club coaching program been?
A. The response to the Pune club program has been very good so far.

Q. Parents in India are generally a bit apprehensive about encouraging their wards to pursue sports as education and traditional careers continue to occupy crucial importance in a person's life ? Your views?
A. Some parents are willing to take the risk and some are not. There is so much of emphasis placed on doing well academically, that parents are reluctant to take the risk. I personally believe that  one must strike a balance between sports, education and extra curricular activities.

Q. India’s next opponents in the Davis Cup are going to be the US. We are going to play them on their home ground. How tough do you think it is going to be?
A. It  is obviously going to be tough, but in the Davis Cup you never know what is going to happen.

Q. Cricket in our country, has, from the start, got a lot of importance, often at the expense of other games, Who do you think is responsible for this situation?
A. It is true to a certain extent but the blame for this lies with the sports administrators and not the Cricketers.

Q. Who was or is your favorite Tennis star?
A  Bjorn Borg has been and is still my favorite tennis star.

Q. What other game would you have pursued if not Tennis?
A. I guess Badminton would have been my next choice.

Q. Finally which is your favorite holiday spot?
A. Maldives.

Interview by: Rahul Surkund
Photographs: Harikrishna