Wimbledon 2003
Milestone in the History of Indian Tennis
This year, for the first time in the history of Wimbledon and in that respect for any other grand slam tournament three Indians made there way into the finals of three events of the tournament- Sania Mirza in the Girl’s Doubles, Leander Paes in the Mixed Doubles and Mahesh Bhupati in the Men’s Doubles. Sania and Leander won their respective titles while Mahesh went down fighting till the end.
India has a long association with Wimbledon, right from 1908 when Sardar Nihal Singh became the first Indian to play there. Later Ghouse Mohammed was the first Indian to reach the quarterfinal. In 1952, Rita Dabur was the runner up for Girls Singles. The first win came in 1954 when Ramanathan Krishnan won the Juniors Title. He then reached the Men’s Singles semifinals in 1960 and 1961 and losing respectively to Australian Neale Fraser and Rod Laver, both of who finally clinched the title. Later Vijay Amritraj reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1973 and 1981.
However Indians had never won any grand slam titles other than the Junior ones in Wimbledon, US Open and French Open till 1997 when Mahesh Bhupati won the Mixed Doubles title in French Open. Since then the duo - Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati has created a new chapter of glory in the history of Indian tennis by winning a number of Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles grand slam titles.
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