The magical afternoon at the Park Sheraton Hotel here on Wednesday cast a spell on the audience which witnessed former Davis Cup captain Naren Kumar handing over the first copy of the book to N Ravi, Editor, The Hindu, while formally releasing the title ``A Touch of Tennis''.

The book traces three generations of the Krishnan family, beginning with T K Ramanathan, Ramanathan Krishnan and Ramesh Krishnan. If grandfather Ramanathan was said to be unlucky not to have played in Davis Cup on account of the World War-II, Krishnan and Ramesh, by their great deeds, went on to occupy special places in history of Indian tennis.

Krishnan, in his address, traced his humble beginnings in New Delhi where his father, Ramanathan, gave him his first lessons in tennis, before moving south to Tenkasi inTamil Nadu. ``I entered in my first tournament under the name, T R Kannan, but changed it to R Krishnan on shifting to Madras. I completed 50 years of association with Indian tennis and my biggest contribution has been my playing tennis in all parts of India,'' he said while struggling to contain his emotions.

Krishnan briefly touched upon some of his great triumphs and matches against World-class players like Neale Fraser and Rod Laver (`the greatest left-handed player ever') and the audience was entranced by this peek into the past.

``This book covers 60 years of tennis as I have tried to relive my life and my son's triumphs,'' concluded Krishnan.

Krishnan's son, Ramesh also took the cue and spoke at length about his regret that he could not match his father's performance of two Wimbledon semifinals. ``I wish he had not achieved so much that I could have perhaps matched his performance,'' said Ramesh.

``The achievements of mine and my father's have been well-chronicled. But, I hope that when thehistory of Indian tennis is written, due credit is given to my grandfather who has influenced all of us,'' he appealed.

The book has been co-authored by Nirmal Shekar, the tennis correspondent of The Hindu, and published by Penguin Books India, priced at a very affordable Rs 250.