Gopika Kapoor and South Africa’s Tegan Edwards had just lost the doubles second-round match in straight sets on Court 6, and after her loss in the singles to Prerna Bhambri 6-2, 6-0 a day before, it was curtains for her at the ITF tennis tournament at RK Khanna stadium at a very early stage.
This sequence of disappointing defeats has continued for over 12 tournaments now. To put things in perspective, in the last nine months Gopika hasn’t won a match in nine attempts at seven different cities — the lone exception being a tournament in Johannesburg where she managed to win a qualifying round before losing again.
For an ordinary player, doing the rounds of tennis circuit like this might have been unacceptable. And the pressure and disappointment of losing would have forced anybody to contemplate a quick farewell from the game in search of other avenues. But Gopika isn’t as ordinary as her results make her to be.
From childhood she has been spoiled by the habit of winning. She has consistently been among the top juniors in the country. Ratan Sharma, her coach for 9 years points out: “She did reasonably well in the ITF Juniors circuit was ranked second in the u-12 category, fourth in u-14 and fifth in u-18 category.”
So where did it all go wrong? It started in Bangkok where she was preparing ahead of a busy tournament schedule. After an evening meal she felt unwell and went for medical check up. “When she returned to India, she was feeling weak and her lips were swollen. Doctors diagnosed her with intestine cancer and 25 allergies at the age of sixteen,” Alpana Kapoor, her mother recalled. The family were shell shocked with grief.
For the next one year, tennis was completely stopped. So was her intake of flour, rice and proteins. The check up and rounds of hospitals went on for ten painstaking months. Eventually it was found that the earlier diagnosis was completely faulty. What was thought to be intestine cancer was actually a severe food allergy suffered from mushroom intake. “When we heard this, there was only relief on our faces. The first thing I did was to take her to a restaurant and let her eat what she wanted,” recalled her mother.
To fast-track Gopika’s return to competitive tennis, her parents sent her to train in France. However, her comeback in 2010 was hampered by an ankle injury she suffered during practice. Though she recovered quickly to get back on the circuit, the rhythm and confidence she enjoyed in the junior days was missing. “I still haven’t reached the level that I was at, before all these incidents happened,” says Gopika.
One loss after another has been the last straw. “When she steps on the court her thought is, I can’t afford to lose as oppose to I can win. That makes all the difference. With aggressive strokes and quick footwork, she has the skills to trouble the top players but mentally she is unable to get past the bad run ,” says coach Sharma. Her expression looking at her mother during matches conveys a sense of helplessness and not the determination of a fighter.
It has reached a point where Gopika, after every defeat, comes to her mom asking if its time to move on. Better sense prevails the next morning and her parents convince her to stay the course. Self doubts are creeping not just in her mind but also in the family’s. “Gopika’s grandparents are very upset with the results. They are beginning to questions if all the effort is worth it,” said Alpana Kapoor, her mother.
Fellow players and analysts have written her off. But Gopika and her mother refuse to do so. “I need that one win to turn things around,” says Gopika. As soon as the match ends, her coach joins Gopika for a practice session. For every cloud has a silver lining hers cannot be far away, her mother sitting in the stands repeats to herself.
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