Sumant Misra

Sumant
Misra, one of India's early tennis
legends and the first Indian
tennis champion in 1946 during
British rule, was aptly called the
'grandfather of Indian tennis'.
Misra, who passed away Saturday
evening at the age of 88,
represented India in the Davis
Cup, besides playing at the
Wimbledon and US Nationals in
the pre-Open era of world tennis.
He is survived by his wife, two
sons and two daughters.
Born in Faizabad in 1923, Misra
was introduced to the game by
his father, L.P. Misra, a former
Chief Commissioner of Indian
Railways.
A product of the famous South
Club in Calcutta, then the nursery
of Indian tennis which produced
many tennis champions, Misra
took to the game seriously at the
age of 14 and from there on
made rapid strides. Among his
contemporaries were Narendra
Nath, Man Mohan and Dilip Bose,
and later on Ramanathan
Krishnan.
In the first 10 years of India's
National Championships from
1946 to 1955, Misra was one of
the only three Indians to win the
title -- and he won it twice. In the
first Nationals in 1946-47, he beat
Man Mohan in the final. Misra later
won the title a second time in
1952.
Ironically, Man Mohan, who also
played Davis Cup with Misra, died
in April this year in Chennai.
The other Indians who won the
title were Dilip Bose in 1948 and
the then upcoming 16-year-old
Ramanathan Krishnan in 1953.
On remaining occasions, well-
known visiting foreign players
took the title.
Misra, an imposing six-foot-two
who was nicknamed 'Tiny' by
fellow players, was on the Indian
Davis Cup team from 1947 to
1953 and captained the team in
1952-53.
The big-serving Misra played at
both the Wimbledon and US
Championships. With Jimmy
Mehta, he reached the Wimbledon
men's doubles quarterfinals in
1947 and 1948, and also entered
the last eight in the US national
doubles in 1947. He also won the
Ceylon and Malay Tennis
Championships twice in 1958 and
1959.
During the course of his tennis
career, Misra was the only player
to participate in the junior
national championship, the
national championship and
national veteran championship.
Misra also served as the secretary
of the All India Tennis Association
from 1963 to 1967, under the
presidentship of M.A.
Chidambaram. He also served as a
selector for Davis Cup teams.
Misra worked in the Calcutta Port
Trust and later retired from
Indian Aluminium in the 1980s
and was living in Delhi.
His elder son, Gaurav Misra, also
won the national tennis
championships, and played the
Davis Cup for India. Gaurav is now
the director of a tennis centre in
the United States.
Post-retirement, Misra kept
playing the sport into his 80s at
the Delhi Gymkhana Club. He was
also involved in the coaching
programme of the All India Tennis
Association and played both golf
and squash.