Another edition of India’s only ATP Tour event got over in Pune on Sunday. As usual, the Indian challenge was so feeble that of the five who made it to the singles main draw, only one reached the second round. And only two of them had made the cut on merit. The other three were wild cards, given usually to the host country. The performance reiterated that when it comes to top-flight tennis, Indians continue to struggle to become even fringe characters. Leander Paes won the country’s only men’s singles ATP title in 1998. Sania Mirza’s triumph at an event in 2006 remains the lone WTA crown in women’s singles.

That both subsequently concentrated on doubles and mixed doubles and these are the events Indians focus primarily on explains to an extent why they don’t become a force in singles. Grand Slam titles won by Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi made singles a low-priority area for Indians who are capable of achieving something at the top level. Sania and Rohan Bopanna gave up singles and went on to win Slams in doubles. Standards in singles fell so low that qualifying for a Slam or spending a few weeks in the top 100 became talking points.

What’s new, one can ask. Other than the Krishnans and Vijay Amritraj, when did India have world-class singles players? But that should not be the way of looking at it as after the 2008 Olympics, Indians have started getting better in disciplines where they historically stood no chance. In the Olympics and World Championships, there has been a steady flow of medals from shooting, badminton, wrestling and boxing. Weightlifters too have made their presence felt. Before India started tasting success in these sports, tennis was way ahead in terms of following, popularity, status and patronage. It had a platform from which it failed to build, while others started from zero and went on to set higher standards. Without obviously holding them responsible, perhaps the success of Paes and Bhupathi worked as a deterrent for Indians to pursue singles, which by all estimates is the form of tennis that matters.