Jaidip Mukerjea

Jaidip Mukerjea, the visionary creator behind the scenes of Jaidip Mukerjea Tennis Academy (JMTA) is nothing less than a legend when it comes to Indian and World tennis. India has over the years, produced numerous great players and has a proud tradition in the much-coveted Davis Cup but very few can boast to have been such a flamboyant part of this prestigious and heavily contested heritage. Competitive yet graceful, ruthless yet stylish, powerful yet charismatic, crisp yet classic, was the game that Jaidip has unfailingly delivered throughout his career to his opponents and the audience alike. He is known to have kept his cool and held his nerves in the closest and tightest of matches. Jaidip, together with his doubles partner, Premjit Lall formed the dreaded (yet dashing!) duo of Indian tennis. There is not a single tennis connoisseur in India who has not heard of the ‘terrific trio’ that India could boast off in Mukerjea, Lall and Krishnan.  Back the tape fifty years or more and take a stroll down memory lane, those were the days of the “Three Musketeers’ of Indian Tennis.

Jaidip Mukerjea and his ‘partner-in-crime’ Premjit Lall were Davis Cup team mates for over 12 years and together along with Ramanathan Krishnan, they formed a formidable team who challenged the world as unnerving adversaries and took India to the Davis Cup finals for the first time in 1966. Taking India to three inter-zonal finals in the 60’s culminating in the Challenge Round of the Davis Cup in 1966, the trio gave Indian tennis its most memorable and cherished years! When these heroes got down to business, it was not just a game that they were playing; rather, it was the eternal glory that they were bestowing to the nation through their exploits on the tennis courts all over the world. Such were these men of honour!

Some of the select and noteworthy achievements of this living legend includes the following:

Professional Tennis

• Has played Asian Singles Champion Cup in 1966, 1970 and 1972.

• Has played for India in Davis Cup for 13 years from 1960 to 1973, was in the Indian team which reached the Davis Cup final for the first time in 1966, at which Jaidip, in partnership with Ramanathan Krishnan beat world champion John Newcombe and Tony Roche in the doubles. Has played 97 Davis Cup matches for India.

• Was a regular player in the international men’s circuit from 1960 to 1974, including all the grand slams. He reached the last 16 (4th round) of the Men’s Singles at Wimbledon (1963, 1964, 1966 and 1973) and Men’s Doubles Quarter Final (1967 and 1973). He also reached the last 16 (4th round) of the Men’s Singles at French Open (1965 and 1966) and the last 16 of the Men’s Singles at U. S. Open (1962). Has beaten most of the top ranked players in the world including Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, Arthur Ashe, Manuel Santana and others.

• Has served India as the Davis Cup Captain (1994 to 1999) and was the coach of the Indian Tennis Team at the Atlanta Olympic Games (1996) where Leander Paes won the bronze medal in Men’s Singles for India – it was the only medal won by India at the Games.

• Has coached the Dutch and Malaysian Davis Cup teams and has done coaching assignments for the International Tennis Federation around the world.

• Currently, runs two tennis academies in eastern India (Kolkata and Siliguri) to promote tennis in West Bengal.

Administration

• Life Vice President of the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
• Chairman of the Development Committee of the All India Tennis Association (AITA)
• Member of the governing body of Sports Authority of India (SAI).
• Was the Honorary Secretary of Bengal Tennis Association for 4 years.
• President (3 years), Secretary (12 years) and other posts in the governing body of the Calcutta South Club, a premier tennis club of India.
• Tournament Director of $1,75,000 WTA Kolkata Sunfeast Open (2005, 2006 & 2007) – the largest ladies international tennis tournament in South Asia.
• Tournament Director of $50,000 ATP Challenger event in Mumbai (2000 & 2001).
• Tournament Director of ITF Futures Kolkata (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008).
• Tournament Organiser of five $15,000 ITF Futures Kolkata (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008).
• Tournament Organiser of the coveted Premjit Lall Invitational Tournament (since 2016) which brings together the cream of Indian tennis including legends such as Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj; Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Somdev Devvarman; and international tennis greats such as Tony Roche, Rod Laver and Allen Fox.

Awards

• Received the Life Time Achievement award from International Tennis Federation (2003).
• Received the Arjuna Award (Tennis) by the Government of India (1967).

A true champion, a thorough gentlemen, a sensitive human being and an ardent sportsperson, Jaidip has dedicated his life to tennis – not only as a stark force to reckon with in the international competitive tennis landscape, but also as a successful coach, mentor, tournament director, organiser and as a part of the governing body of many a prestigious tennis institution. There are very few individuals who have been as relentless as Jaidip in his pursuit of creating, nurturing, developing and maintaining the special camaraderie between the players, audience and connoisseurs alike, and in his persistent contributions to the tennis fraternity in India with an aim to take Indian tennis to new heights!

THE HINDU, Saturday, Jan 09, 2010, Chennai, by S. Thyagarajan

They landed in Melbourne during the Christmas week of 1966 like lambs in line for slaughter. The Aussie media, with its penchant for running down the underdog, dismissed the title fight for the Davis Cup as a “Challenge Round without a challenge.” However, when the final script emerged there was spontaneous acclamation for India, notwithstanding the 1-4 defeat in the first ever appearance at the tennis summit.

Jack Fingleton, that versatile Aussie scribe, who reported on the match for The Hindu, summed up the contest thus: “India won high honours and high national prestige in this Challenge Round. Its players were magnificent in defeat and in victory (in doubles). They provided one of the most pleasant Davis Cup Challenge Rounds in Australia. The demeanour of all the players was absolutely magnificent with not a single query against a decision and not a single tantrum. And surely, India will come again here and very soon to fight another Challenge Round.”

Awesome foursome
The Aussie foursome — Fred Stolle, Roy Emerson, Tony Roche and John Newcombe, was awesome. With 20 trophy triumphs up to that point, the Aussies were decidedly the favourites. India had entered the sacred arena after an epic victory that Ramanathan Krishnan achieved against Tomas Koch of Brazil at Calcutta.

This contest, fit enough for verses and ballads, forms part of Davis Cup folklore. But on the eve of the Cup final, the Indian quartet of Krishnan, Jaidip Mukerjea, Premjit Lall and S.P. Mishra, with R.K. Khanna as the non-playing captain, was portrayed as no match to the Aussies, headed by the high priest of coaching, Harry Hopman.

On day one, Stolle outplayed Krishnan in 74 minutes (6-3, 6-2, 6-4). Mukerjea began gloriously but went down to the master craftsman, Emerson 5-7, 4-6, 2-6.

About Stolle’s victory over Krishnan, Jack Fingleton, wrote, “Powerfully-built Krishnan with shoulders on him like a wrestler, and could not pace it with the lean greyhound, Stolle, who bounded around the court as if on rubbers.

“Krishnan’s tennis belongs to another decade. He plays the game like Jack Crawford of the 30s, easeful, graceful fluently trying to work his opponent out of position. This is not the way of the modern power player, who serves like a thunderbolt and never bothers to probe….. I thought Krishnan never settled down.”

What the Aussies had not reckoned with was the resilience of the Indian pair, Krishnan and Mukerjea, who outclassed the redoubtable duo, Roche and Newcombe (4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4). The hero was Mukerjea.

“We saw infinitely better tennis from Mukerjea than anybody expected” Fingleton commented. “People were asking yesterday who Mukerjea was. They had hardly heard of him, and knew only that he had finished among the last 16 at the last Wimbledon. Well, he has put himself on a pinnacle of popularity here now, and was the dominant personality of the Challenge Round. The crowd simply adored him.”

Over 9000 spectators watched this match.

Hopes revived, the crowd was waiting for the showdown between Krishnan and Emerson. It was somewhat a cake-walk for the Aussie (6-0, 6-2, 10-8), though Krishnan fought gamely in the third set for 56 minutes.

Recapturing the mood of the match, Fingleton described how Krishnan’s attempts to slow down the marauding Aussie proved futile.

“Krishnan tried to slow him down early, but it was like trying to stop an express train with confetti,” he observed.

Mukerjea, however, continued his splendid showing stretching Stolle to five sets in the dead rubber, giving India’s first Challenge a memorable finish.

Stolle won 7-5, 6-8, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Forty-three years later, caught in a web of nostalgia, Krishnan, recalled that glorious tie.

Touching on the historic doubles win, Krishnan observed, “Mukerjea and I tried to play better than the other… this made the contest outstanding. You know, that was the only defeat of the year for the Aussie pair.”