2009 set a new trend in Indian tennis, when all seven known faces featured in at least one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.

By Bhagya L Ayyavoo

Perhaps, Indian tennis found a success formula at the start of the year. For, India got the combination right, almost on all occasions. There were at least 15 memorable dates that every Indian tennis fan would like to remember from the season just gone by.

Every fairytale has its beginning. The Indian story started at the tennis hub of the nation - Chennai. No one expected to be cheering for Somdev Devvarman on the last day of the Chennai Open ATP 250 tournament.

Despite being ranked a lowly 202, the Indian wildcard surprised two-time Chennai Open champion Carlos Moya and big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in succession to reach the semis. When Somdev's semi-final opponent, Rainer Schuettler pulled out due to injury, the Indian fans were ecstatic.

For the first time in 14 years since the tournament's inception, an Indian featured in the singles final. Come January 10, in a hard-fought final, Marin Cilic ran away with the top honours. But, it was Somdev who conquered a million hearts. Somdev's brave-heart attempt in Chennai helped him reach a career-best 116 in the ATP rankings.

All those who thought it was just beginners' luck, were soon to be proved wrong. This time, the venue was Down Under. And the racquet that triumphed was that of Yuki Bhambri's.

January 31: The 16-year-old Yuki clinched the Australian Open boys' title. Top-seeded Yuki beat Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas of Germany, 6-3 6-1. On the same day, Mahesh Bhupathi missed a chance of achieving a Career Slam after he and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles fell to the Bryan brothers at Melbourne Park.

However, in less than 24 hours, Bhupathi was smiling.

February 1: Bhupathi along with Sania Mirza bagged the Australian Open mixed doubles crown. The Indian duo beat Andy Ram and Nathalie Dechy. It was the 11th Major title for Bhupathi. Sania got her very first. Thus, a new Grand Slam champion was born for India!

When the stage moved to San Jose, California, it was Rohan Bopanna's turn.

February 14: Bopanna and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who ended their campaign in the second round of the Australian Open, crashed an American love-fest on Valentine's Day. The Indo-Finn duo beat the Open champions and the famed American twins, Bob and Mike Bryan to enter the semifinal of US$ 600,000 event. But, Bopanna-Nieminen stumbled in the final to Tommy Haas and Radek Stepanek.

A day later, across in Bangkok, Sania achieved her best result of the season when she entered the final of the Pattaya Open. But, world No.7 Vera Zvonareva proved to be too hot for Sania. Later, Sania capped her Slam year with an upset win over world No.12 Marion Bartoli at the Japan Open.

After missing out at the first Major, Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy came to the party at Roland Garros.

June 6: The third-seeded Indo-Czech duo beat Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman, 3-6 6-3 6-2 to win the French Open title.

World tennis then moved to the All England Club in the last week of June. For the first time in many years, Wimbledon Championships witnessed an Indian charge. Prakash Amrtiraj made his debut at the prestigious grass courts along with his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.

The Indo-PAK team advanced to the third round after coming through in five sets in the first and second rounds. But, they fell victim to Bhupathi and Knowles. The fourth seeds had earlier beaten debutants Somdev and Kevin Anderson in the opening round. But, it was Paes who kept the Indian campaign alive till the end.

July 5: Paes partnering Cara Black settled for the mixed doubles runners-up title against Knowles and Anna-Lena Groenefeld at The Championships.

While the great Indian charge converged in London, Australian Open boys' champion Yuki preferred to sweat it out in India. Yuki gained crucial points on the men's tour after winning a couple of Futures events. And on July 4, the junior No.1 Yuki celebrated his 17th birthday in style, bagging the third of his five Futures titles which helped him to reach a career-high 337.

Meanwhile, even days after The Championships ended, Sania remained in news. The world stopped for thousands of young men in the country when Sania's engagement rumours (this time true) hit the streets.

July 10: As Sania and Sohrab Mirza got engaged, a couple of maniacs were arrested for protesting the tie-up.

July 26: With traces of her engagement mehendi still evident, Sania won the US Challenger title in Lexington. For the 22-year-old, the win was very important. "Since it came right after my engagement, it helped in putting a stop to baseless rumours that claimed I had lost focus on tennis," said Sania.

On the men's tour, after a rather quite six months post the Chennai Open run, Somdev served up a big upset.

August 4: Qualifier Somdev recorded the biggest win of his career after he stunned Cilic (ranked No.16) 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington. Karlovic ended Somdev's campaign in the next round.

August finally brought some luck to Bhupathi as he kept his record (of winning at least one ATP title every year since 1997) intact after claiming the Montreal Masters title. It was his first of the season, but last with Knowles. Bhupathi and Knowles parted ways at the end of the season.

August 30: India's long wait ended when the North-East sensation Somdev qualified for the season-ending Major at Flushing Meadows.

The last time an Indian appeared in the US Open singles main draw was in 2002 when Prakash Amritraj featured as a wild-card entrant.

August 31: The 24-year-old made history again when he won his first-round match against Frederico Gil of Portugal. A few days later, Philipp Kohlschreiber stopped Somdev in four sets, 6-3 6-4 0-6 6-2 in the second round.

September 10: Paes and Black for the second time in the year faltered in the final losing to the unseeded American duo Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott in the mixed doubles. But an all-Indian affair at the US Open men's doubles final brought back the lost cheer.

The climax to the Grand Slam season couldn't have been scripted better. Paes and Bhupathi, the Indian Express who had featured together in five title clashes on the Grand Slam stage faced each other for the first time in a Major final.

September 13: It was Paes who lifted the trophy at the end. The Indian ace sealed a fabulous year with Dlouhy by clinching his second Slam of the season and sixth overall in men's doubles. Bhupathi and Knowles only had themselves to blame as they misfired for the second time in as many occasions.

September (18-20): Somdev and Bopanna's heroics in the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie in South Africa put India in the World Group for the first time in 11 years. "It wasn't one of my better performances with regards to my game. But, given the conditions and the situation I was in, coming out with a win was one of the grittiest things I have ever done. I was very proud of my performance there. I don't see that very often. I would like to come out with that fight and energy and willpower in the coming season," said Somdev.

Yuki tasted a Davis Cup victory on debut. But the fact that India achieved this victory without the big guns Paes and Bhupathi was an encouraging sign.

And in other news, despite a three-month injury lay-off, Bopanna finished with three Challenger titles, partnering Qureshi. Others like Harsh Mankad and Purav Raja also saw success in Challenger doubles with their respective partners.

But, surprising in women's category, a 19-year-old Poojashree Venkatesha, who clinched as many as four ITF titles this season, finished a far second to Sania after coming very close to cracking the Top 300 in WTA Rankings. Poojashree, who was ranked 943 end of last season, achieved a career-best 306.

There will be a lot to look forward to in 2010.