If all the good intentions voiced last April by tennis officials were converted to reality, then preparations for the 2010 Davis Cup campaign by now might’ve been in full stride, and the likes of Godamanna and Rajapakse would’ve been scrapping it out in some distant land on their rounds of the professional circuit.

It seems the March tie is finally being given a thought or two

This, in a nutshell, was what was said last April: Davis Cup Group Two competition is a lot harder and preparations for it will commensurately have to get more rigorous, in intensity as well as duration. If the country is to make an impression at the higher level of competition, Asiri Iddamalgoda, the non-playing captain of the 2009 promotion-winning team, prescribed (1) year-long training for a squad of hopeful candidates and (2) tournaments in the pro circuit for the more established players – which if effected would’ve provided a radical departure from the leisurely two-three months workout of old.

But old habits die hard: Iddamalgoda’s prescription for longevity in Group Two has remained just that – words on paper. And just when it seemed that it had been all but forgotten, in a Rip Van Winkle-like twist, officials awoke to the seriousness of the approaching tie and, mercifully, produced last week at least a blueprint of the Davis Cup preparations – seven moons after it was first spoken about.

Three day trial

The preparations finally got a move on yesterday with the start of a three-day trial, at the end of which the squad would be pruned down to nine, from the present 14. The nine then go into training under SLTA coach Sudantha Soysa till early January, when a second trial is conducted to pick the final squad (of four players and two reserves) for the March 5-7 tie v. New Zealand, in Colombo. The selectors have deemed Godamanna, our no.1 singles player, as automatic selection and so, is exempt from all trials.

As well, Iddamalgoda was reconfirmed as team captain and Angelo Patrick appointed manager, a job that was suppressed for the 2009 campaign due to financial constraints. The campaign budget was set at Rs.3.5m, to which the Sport Ministry has already pledged Rs.1.5m.

So despite all the good intentions spoken in April, the duration of the preparation for the battles in Group Two is not going to be much longer than it had been for the Group Three duels. Laudable as Iddamalgoda’s recommendations were, there was no disguising its impracticalities. Sri Lanka tennis, after all, is not professional in the way it is in most other countries, where the sport is an accepted means to livelihood.

Financial viability

If our players were to respond to Iddamalgoda’s demands, then, they might have to sack their jobs or abandon studies and join the dole queue. Or alternatively, the SLTA should’ve contracted the players for the sort of fees that won’t require them to work. But the chance of that prospect materialising is pretty much the same as discovering oil in your backyard. Cash-strapped SLTA had to obtain a bank-overdraft of Rs.650, 000 to fly out the team to Damascus for the last DC campaign – so much for the financial viability of our tennis.

But, given the timing of his rather unrealistic (albeit sensible) proposition, it is excusable if ground realities had taken leave of him. After nine years spent in Group 3 and 4, promotion to Two naturally ignites the sort of giddy elation that Sri Lanka tennis hasn’t experienced in a long, long while – and those intoxicated emotions some times does funny things to man’s mind.

It has to be said, though, Group Two promotion had been within our grasp more than once in recent years, never so close as in the 2007 competition, in Colombo: We finished joint-first along with two other countries, but unfortunately was edged down to no.3 on a count back of the total number of sets won by the three contenders for two promotion slots.

Truth be told, 2009 hardly looked the year for promotion. The aforementioned case of seeking a bank overdraft to dispatch the team to Damascus is as good an indication as any of the manner in which the interim committee had managed the sport. Suffice it is to say, mismanagement had caused serious financial problems – so serious that some officials questioned the wisdom of spending on an overseas coach and on players’ coaching stints in Bangkok as part of the preparations for the last Davis Cup. One even questioned the feasibility of pursuing Group Two promotion, arguing that promotion bring us to a level that is beyond our coping, and, after a year, we would have to revert back to Group Three.

Blue print

To earn promotion from a backdrop of such pessimism and constraint is commendable, and in that triumphal mood, the enthusiastic captain was, perhaps, swept away from the realms of reasonableness. This is not to suggest Iddamalgoda’s suggestion is nonsensical piffle. Rather, it is the ideal, but then talking idealism in the un-ideal world that Sri Lanka tennis is, well, singing for the moon.

Belated though the preparations might be, it is encouraging that much thought clearly has gone into the blueprint. That the views of officials, players and selectors were sought in its formulation means the campaign is based on unified interest. A close rapport between team and officials, is always a good way to set about a task.

That healthy relationship apparently was established Monday, though there were reasons why it so easily might’ve been otherwise. For one, the senior players had believed the New Zealand tie would be played on the Green Path hard courts, a surface they had grown accustomed to through frequent usage since the courts were commissioned three years ago. As well, much of their recent Davis Cup encounters have been on the faster hard courts.

The first reaction of the players to the suggestion of playing the coming tie on clay, understandably, was one of detestation. But chief selector, Suresh Subramaniam, came up with a good reason why clay might be a better option. He revealed the Kiwis’ dislike for slow clay courts. “In New Zealand’s tennis history they’ve never won a tie on clay courts. They have played six on clay and lost all of them – that’s quite a revelation and we’d be stupid if we choose to take them on a surface they fancy,’’ said Subramaniam. The players agreed to clay.

It’s not that playing on clay is a guarantee to our success. It has to be said that the Kiwis are quite another kettle of fish, having featured regularly at the Group 1-2 level, as against Sri Lanka’s participation in Group 3/or 4 over the last nine years. It won’t be wrong to assume the Kiwis are favourites, but that doesn’t mean we should roll over and die. As SLTA President, Maxwell de Silva says: “What we have to do is to make it hard for them – and playing on the slow clay courts is one way of subjecting them to that difficulty, especially in the broiling March heat. And if we can force them into impatience, then, who knows how things might end up.’’

It is, of course, early days to be talking about the outcome of the March tie, but that it is being given a thought or two is surely a sign that better things might be in store for Sri Lanka tennis.