The art of working under deadlines

In my four years of covering the ATP Tour tennis event in Chennai, never has the importance of giving a first-class and error-free copy on time, hit me as much it did this time. There have been times when a match has ended at 9.30 p. m., and the copy had to at the desk within half-an-hour. Talk about pressure.

You have to be as quick as a typist, and as good a storyteller as Yeats, or a Ruskin Bond to come up with a readable story. No easy combination that.

Even though I did a fairly good job (even my boss said so), at the hearts of hearts, I felt I need to read a lot of good literature to produce a sweet, reader-friendly copy under deadline.

This is not to say that the Chennai Open was not exciting. I had my share of fun. I got to interview Jonas Bjorkman, Carlos Moya and Rainer Schuettler. I'll tell you more on that in my next blog. I have done exclusive interviews with Moya and Bjorkman for the Sportstar.