Those were the headlines in the sports section of The Times Of India the day after I won my first round match at the 2007 Chennai Open. I won 63 64 which seemed pretty straightforward but for me it was winning my first ever match at the ATP tour level against a top 100 player. Anything but straightforward! When the draw first came out I was drawn to play a Brazilian, Thiago Alves in the first round with the winner of that match drawn to play a certain Rafael Nadal. He was the current world no.2 and the defending French Open Champion. My coach, parents, fans were all cramped on the stands on court No.1 at the Nungambakkam Stadium in Chennai. I was a little upset when the schedule had come out the previous day because I was scheduled for an outside court and not centre court but felt somewhat ok when I realized Nadal would be playing there. I guess it was fair that the current world No.2 and French Open Champion would get more people to watch him than an unknown World no. 486 at the time.  So I decided to be mature and let Rafa have his 15 minutes of fame :p. Plus the draw was such that I knew if I won my first round I would be playing Nadal in the second round, I would then get my opportunity on centre court.

Back to that first round match, I had just come off a very good tournament in Delhi winning the futures event there and was playing some of the best tennis of my life. I won the first set and raced to a 4-1 lead in the second. Throughout the match I could hear loud cheers coming from centre court where Nadal was playing his match and I would be lying if I said I dint have my 2^nd round opponent at the back of my head. And at 4-1 in the second set that’s all I could think about! Before I knew it, it was back to 4-4 and those two more games seemed a fair distance away. I somehow regained my composure and won the next two games without losing another point. I let out a huge scream, more out of relief than anything else. I remember I had a handful of journalists talking to me after that match and they asked me how I felt about playing against Nadal and all I said was that I couldn’t wait! I had never been that excited before a match in my entire career. I had the next day off, which pretty much felt like a blurr. I remember the event organizers had set up a small cricket session with Nadal, I and one of India’s greatest cricketers Kris Shrikanth the next day. It was one of those media interactions that I was not used to but I nevertheless enjoyed bowling to Nadal .It took him a couple deliveries to get used to the cricket bat but  once he got the hang of it, everything I threw at him(even though I was just tossing it up) disappeared into the stands of the centre court. I couldn’t help thinking if this was a sign to come the next day! In all honesty  ever since I finished my first round I could only think of my 2^nd round match. I was talking and interacting with everyone but in my head all I was doing was playing against the world no.2 again and again and again. I was just trying to get my mind used to playing against such a high ranked opponent and this little media interaction with him helped calm my nerves to a certain extent.

A couple hours before the match, my coach at the time Sanjay Poddar and I sat down to discuss tactics and what I should be doing during the match. This was common practice before every match I played, we would sit down together in the room before leaving for the venue, and discuss what I should and should not be doing during the match, different tactics to use against different opponents. On this particular day as we sat in the room, usually I wait for him to start talking, but I could sense he was just as nervous as I was! So we had this moment where we just looked right at each other and started laughing our guts out! It was a first for both of us and I think that one moment made all my nerves fade away. We eventually did sit down and discuss strategies. We knew he had a massive forehand and he liked to run around his backhands, so we said ok let’s use my backhand crosscourt, which is my best shot, to pull him wide to his forehand and then go into the open court on his backhand which meant he could not use that inside out forehand that effectively. My returns were another strong point so I would try and capitalize on whatever second serves I got from him. On my serves I really needed a high first serve percentage because I knew he would be all over my 2^nd serve. More than anything else he just told me to go out there and enjoy myself. He told me this is one moment you will remember for the rest of your life. Honestly all I was hoping for was that I don’t go out there and embarrass myself by losing something like 60 61. I just wanted to go out there and give a good account of myself and be as competitive as possible. We reached the stadium and started warming up with Sunil Kumar, another very talented left hander. I got him to hit the lefty out wide serve plenty of times and try and hit that heavy forehand to my backhand to try and be ready for what was about to come. Later on I realized that nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to face! I got back to the locker room, took a shower, got changed, and started getting ready for my match. From the corner of my eye I could see Rafa on the other side(headphones on) looking at the ground psyching himself up! I wondered to myself if he really is taking this match seriously! That gave me a little confidence and I quickly regained my composure and decided to focus on myself rather than what he was doing. I did my usual pre match routine, with a bit of an extra warm up just to get rid of the last few nerves.

It was time!! My coach wished me luck with that ever soothing smile of his, my parents wished me luck. Now I was all on my own. Centre court, with about 6000 people watching and many more watching Live on TV. I knew my whole family and all my friends were glued to the television set back home as well. Again at that moment I remember thinking to myself, I hope I don’t make a fool of myself! Then I heard the presenter announce my name and I slowly walked out on to the court to a packed stadium and thunderous applause. As I walked onto the court I remember seeing a friend of mine who was part of the tournament staff standing right next to the umpire’s chair. As I walked past her I looked right at her and said “I love this!” and went and sat down on my chair. I was about to start the biggest match of my life and I had never been more excited!!

As soon as I sat down on my chair, I could suddenly hear the roar that greets world champions the world over. Rafa Nadal was walking into centre court and the crowd was absolutely going bananas. For a second I almost thought I was playing in some small town in Mallorca, Spain- the hometown of Nadal. I take my racket out, sip some water and go up to the net for the toss. I’m still trying to get used to the crowd and the atmosphere. Nadal is taking his time as usual, going through his million routines, he sucks on this tube of energy gel, adjusts his bandana and shoe laces almost a zillion times, sure enough those famous water bottles are placed in a particular spot on a particular angle and I’m just standing at the net waiting for him to be ready so we can get on with it. It almost feels like I’ve been standing there for a good 10 minutes! He eventually comes out and the umpire spins the coin. He wins the toss and elects to receive. I’m not surprised because I know that’s what he usually does and I’m sure he knows that my serve is not my strongest point. The day before the match he along with his entire team and are sitting in the player’s lounge and Rafa asks his coach who this Rastogi guy is. They have no idea what I look like and that I’m sitting on the other side of the room listening to everything they’re saying! The coach says he has no idea and they look me up online. They talk about how I’m ranked 400 and they talk about how I’ve just won a futures event last week. Should be another walk in the park! I was hoping to make it at least a slight jog in the park for him!

As we start warming up the presenter starts introducing us to the crowd. I can faintly hear cheers of “Karan Karan” while I am introduced to the crowd, but by this time I have somewhat gotten used to the complete atmosphere, soaked in the environment and am only focused on my serve because the last thing you want to do is lose your first service game. I go to my chair after my warm up, tie my shoelaces again use my towel, drink some water and Gatorade and tell myself “let’s go, every ball”. I walk up to the baseline, take a deep breath and start the match. I hit a pretty decent first serve to his backhand and he hits the return towards the middle of the court, but it clips the tape of the net and falls just over to my side. He gets a lucky net cord on the first point of the match. As if I wasn’t nervous enough! I give a wry smile and regroup and play an amazing point to follow up finishing with a backhand down the line winner. I hold my first game to 15 and start feeling good about myself. Any tennis player will tell you holding your first service game is a massive relief. I walk to the chair to change sides and I can gradually hear the “Karan Karan” getting louder and louder. I think to myself, life cannot possibly get better than this! He wins the next game pretty easily and before I know it I’m down break point on my serve. I hit a good serve to save the break point and then manage to hold out to go up 2-1. I could sense that maybe Nadal was not at his best. He was making a few uncharacteristic errors, maybe because it was only his second match of the year. Nevertheless I decided to make full use of this opportunity. I played a couple really good points on his serve in the next game, getting into my rhythm but still lost that game to make it 2-2. We both hold serve again to make it 3-3. Now I’m starting to really get into this match and find my range. I’m competing and proving to myself that I can stick around with this guy. At 15-15 in that game I probably play the best point of the match. I hit the serve wide to his backhand, and we trade blows moving each other around, he gets a short ball on his forehand and just because I have seen him play so many times on the television I know he is going cross court. I anticipate that shot and sprint to cover my backhand and hit a short angle cross court from outside my doubles line for a winner. I yell “Come on!!” looking at the crowd and there’s pandemonium! The crowd has gone crazy, my parents are jumping in their seats, I can even see Nadal’s coach applauding that shot. I am well and truly competing against the second best player in the world! It’s an amazing feeling. I win that game and now suddenly I’m up 15-30 on his serve. If I win this point I’ll have two break points on his serve.  I know this is a massive opportunity for me; I need to really give 200 % on this point. We again play a long point moving each other to all corners of the court, I take the risk and hit that favourite backhand down the line shot of mine, I think it’s a winner, my parents and coach think it’s a winner, the crowd thinks it’s a winner, but he is not Rafa Nadal for no reason. He somehow not only gets to the ball but manages to hit an unbelievable short cross court from nowhere. I’m stunned, I barely get my racket to that ball and manage to just float it back and he hits it for a winner. Now it’s his turn to do his trademark “Vamos” and fist pump. I look at my coach and he just smiles back at me. I could not have hit that shot any better but he managed to dig himself out. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. He holds serve to make it 4 all and then really steps up his game to break me and win the first set 6-4. I knew I had that one chance but couldn’t take it. Now his tail was up and I could sense he was getting better and better as the much went on. I won the first game of the second set and even had a couple break points on his serve in the next game, but he saves them, holds serve and then breaks me to go up 2-1. This is when I think I realized I had lost all my opportunities. I still tried very hard but he had really picked up his game and was too strong for the rest of the match. I eventually lost that set 61 and as we came to the net to shake hands, he told me I had a very bright future and to keep working hard. I congratulated him, picked up my bag and started to walk off the court. The crowd gave me an amazing cheer as I was leaving and the pain of the loss seemed to vanish away. What I dint realize at the time was as I was leaving the court Nadal had gestured to the crowd to cheer me on as I was leaving. I thought that was an amazing gesture and spoke volumes of his humility. I got back to the locker room, and everyone started congratulating me like I had won that match. I was pleased with my effort and even though I lost tamely in that second set I was glad I stood toe to toe with him in that first set. I had managed to compete and not get my butt kicked at least in the first set. The second set showed me how much harder I needed to work. But all in all I was happy. I got back to the locker room, stretched, took a shower, my coach and parents told me how proud of me they were. I turned my phone on and started getting all these calls and messages from all my friends and family back home and how excited they were watching me competing live on TV. It really was an amazing moment for me.  I went in for the mandatory press conference later and was absolutely enjoying all the attention I was suddenly getting. It was for the first time in my life that I really got to experience that kind of media attention and I enjoyed every moment of it. Suddenly people were mobbing me for autographs and pictures; it was something I had barely experienced before. I remember my coach telling me to enjoy this but to keep my feet on the ground. I knew he was right but honestly I just wanted to enjoy that moment at the time.

A couple months later, I was in Dubai to take part in the ATP event there- I was playing the qualifying event. Rafa was the no.1 seed for that tournament. I saw him in the locker room and wasn’t sure if he would remember me and hence did not go up and say hi. Instead he himself came up to me, shook my hand and asked me if I wanted to hit some balls. So we went on court and had a good session for about two hours on court. We played a set and he beat me relatively comfortably 6-3. Toni Nadal was with him there and we talked about our match in Chennai and he told me the things I needed to work on and he was really genuine and helpful. I was amazed at this guy’s humility and attitude.  I remember thinking to myself then, that if I ever reached a high level in tennis, or anywhere in life I would want to have his attitude and humility. There’s a reason he is such a champion.

It’s been almost 6 years since I played that match but I still remember every little detail as if it happened yesterday. It was arguably one of my best moments as a tennis player and something I will cherish as long as I live.

[This blog was originally posted on https://karanrastogi.wordpress.com/ in 2012]