I started playing tennis in the 1950s. At the time when I joined Calcutta South Club, Naresh Kumar was an off-spinner at that time. He turned into a coach and manual for Premjit Lall and me all the while. We soon came to understand that Naresh Kumar is much more than just a coach.
Sometimes he would advise us on strategies and I remember him asking me to work on my strike. Naresh was the boss on his Davis Cup debut. He was undeniably more established than us, but in the blink of an eye, we became old pals, traveling with him to all corners of the world when he played for the country.
During those visits to Europe and the USA, we found him to be a constantly reassuring and smiling person. senior. Previous tennis player Jaidip Mukerjea talks about his soothing and grinning senior self on and off the court
He was an extraordinary admirer of craftsmanship and M.F. Husain, a tennis darling, often visited Naresh and his better half Sunita, a craftswoman herself, at their home in Kolkata. It was most likely in 2000 that I saw Hussein making a huge canvas on the mass of their house. Naresh genuinely loved Hussain’s works and his range of Hussain canvases is most likely truly exceptional in the country.
Naresh was an incredibly sensible individual. Despite being a family man who was always helpful, Naresh was also known for his huge evening gatherings at his house on Middleton Street. The entire Calcutta gaming club could be traced to these gatherings.
I was welcomed there several times and during these meetings I found Naresh to be extremely funny. Cricketer Ted Dexter was Naresh’s old friend and at several events, Ted invested energy with Naresh at his home.
He belonged to an age of Indian players who played incredibly well on a global scale. After nine consecutive years in the singles main draw at Wimbledon, he achieved his best exhibition in 1955 when he reached the pre-quarterfinals. He reached the third round of the 1958 French Open 1958.
According to a report in The Hindu, Kumar did well in the replicas and reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 1953, 1955, and 1958.
