In the end, it was only fitting that the one who played fair and square triumphed. The tennis fraternity may be divided over the ‘on-court coaching’ issue with a few tournaments experimenting with the policy, but as far as the ITF junior tournaments are concerned, it’s an offence.

India’s Kyra Shroff and her group probably chose to ignore that. The Maharashtra girl who is regarded as one of the country’s most promising juniors and happens to be one of the only seven kids at the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy (MBTA) Elite programme at Bangalore, was assisted by coach and former Davis Cupper Prahlad Srinath for a greater part (that’s because the officials intervened thereafter) of her first round match against Ukrainian sixth seed Anastasiya Vasylyeva in the ITF juniors at the DKS Club here.

Despite all the assistance and serving for the match at 5-3, 30-15, Kyra went down 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 3-6 against her fancied opponent.

Srinath, by the court for the entire match, was often seen making gestures with his hands that suggested he was asking his ward to slice the ball. Kyra’s father, an excited Firdaus, too was spotted rolling his hands.

It was funny to see an anxious Kyra look upto her coach for advice after every point whenever she was on the same side of the court where Srinath was sitting. Especially after losing her serve while serving for the match, a visibly upset Kyra was seen looking upto her coach for answers. Whispers from guardians of other players were getting louder by now and the tournament officials were informed.

... contd.