How the Madras Magician wowed SW19 60 years ago – Times of India

By Partab Ramchand
Chennai: This is Wimbledon fortnight and as we miss the greens of SW19 for the first time since World War II, we can’t but go back to the exploits of Ramanathan Krishnan, the Madras Magician who became the first Indian to make the men’s singles semifinals of the tournament in 1960.
Exactly 60 years ago, Krishnan created history. Before him Ghaus Mohammad had made it to the quarterfinals in 1939 before going down to the ultimate champion Bobby Riggs of the USA.
Krishnan however had served enough notice that great things could be expected of him. Ever since he became national champion at 16 he was looked upon as a special talent. In 1954, he became the first Indian to win the junior Wimbledon title. Two years later he shocked the 1954 champion Jaroslav Drobny, seeded no. 5 in four sets in the first round of the main draw.
By 1959 Krishnan was acknowledged as one of the leading players in the world. He led India to the Davis Cup inter-zone final in 1956 and again three years later, had notched up victories over all the other top stars in the game and in 1959 defeated world no. 1 Alex Olmedo to win the Queen’s club tournament, a curtain raiser to Wimbledon. Olmedo in fact went on to win the singles title at Wimbledon that year and on his way he defeated Krishnan in the third round.
In 1960, Krishnan became the first Indian to be seeded in the men’s singles at Wimbledon. Seeded no 7 the Indian ace survived a couple of tough matches in the initial rounds and then was up against Luis Ayala the fourth seed from Chile in the quarterfinal. Ayala was a seasoned campaigner and was one of the leading players in the game but playing some of his best tennis Krishnan won 7-5, 10-8, 6-2 to keep his tryst with history. The British press went gaga over the touch artist and named him the ‘Madras Magician’.
As only to be expected Krishnan’s run of successes had generated tremendous enthusiasm back home and tennis fans could not wait for his semifinal against top seed Neale Fraser to start. However the Aussie left hander who went on to win the title had brought his game to its highest peak just at the right moment and his devastating serve, smashes and volleying were altogether too much for the more artistic but softer game of Krishnan and he won 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
It was a disappointment but Krishnan’s historic feat did not go unnoticed and he became the first tennis player to be awarded the Arjuna award in 1961 followed by the Padma Shri in 1962. Incidentally Krishnan also entered the semifinals in 1961. Again he was seeded no. 7 and this time got the better of the fourth seed Australia’s Roy Emerson in the quarterfinal in probably the best match he played at Wimbledon. Krishnan however again went down to the ultimate champion Rod Laver in straight sets, but even after so many years, the afterglow of Krishnan’s wizardry doesn’t seem to fade.
(The writer is a veteran journalist)