Interview with Indian Women’s Singles No. 1 Ankita Raina: "My goal is to reach the top 300 this year"

2013 has been a wonderful year so far for the very talented and diligent Ankita Raina. She has won the Grasscourt Nationals and been on an amazing run in the ITF Pro Circuit, reaching four finals in a row and capturing the $10,000 Chennai ITF title. In her most recent final at the $10,000 Lucknow event, she gave ample evidence of her fighting spirit by taking the match down to the wire in spite of being indisposed.

On 6th May, the 20-year-old’s dedication and perseverance have been richly rewarded as she rose to a world ranking of 463 to become India’s top-ranked women’s singles player. In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Ankita shares her experiences of the past few weeks in the circuit, her Fed Cup tryst, her goals and meeting other Indian sporting icons.

Congratulations, Ankita, you are now the highest-ranked women’s singles player in India. It must be a dream come true for you?

Yes, I am very happy. This is just the first milestone achieved and I still have a long way to go.

You clinched the $10,000 Chennai ITF title two weeks back. How does it feel after winning your first ITF title this year?

It’s a great feeling to be back. It’s almost a year since I won a 10k and I am really happy. God has been really kind and this year has started on a good note. Also, I am thankful to my family and my coach for their help and support.

How different was it playing an opponent like Natasha Palha at the Chennai final who trains with you at the same academy and knows your game inside out?

I had just played Natasha in February, in the finals of Grass Court Nationals at Kolkata and I had won in straight sets there. But then this was clay, a totally different surface and Natasha likes to play on clay. So I had a feeling that this time it might not be that easy. And like you said, she trains with me, so both of us know each other’s game quite well.

You have now won the National Championships and reached the Lucknow ITF final on grass, won the Chennai ITF on clay and made the finals of two hardcourt ITF events this year. That really proves your versatility and consistency. What are the areas that you have been working on to bring about such an amazing improvement?

Yes, it’s a great feeling to perform good on all the surfaces! It proves that I can adjust to all kinds of surfaces and perform well. This also gives confidence to me that my dream of winning the Grand Slams on all surfaces will come true some day. I was working on getting a weapon in my game, my forehand, with which I can attack from any part of the court and which can the trouble the opponent on all the surfaces. Also, presently I am working on my serve.

You got to play matches at the Fed Cup for the first time in your career. How was the feeling playing for your country? What did you learn from that experience?

It was the best feeling. I think for every sportsman it’s a dream to play for the country and I would say I have been blessed to get that chance. It was a brilliant experience and it has acted as a confidence booster which took my game to the next level. I think watching better players play had a really big impact on me…this is what I personally felt after coming back from Fed Cup.

It’s not often that we have heard about an awesome tennis talent from the state of Gujarat. Your success story must inspire a lot of youngsters from Gujarat to take up the racquet. What do you think?

After whatever Sania Mirza has achieved, tennis has obviously grown much much more than what it was before. But it’s true that there are not many players at the Pro Circuit from my state, though we had some really good players at the junior level. I really hope that I will be able to inspire them and hopefully we will see more tennis talent coming out of Gujarat.

Along with tennis, you are pursuing B.Com as well. With such hectic travelling involved in the tennis tour, how do you manage to balance sports and studies?

I have been looking for this answer myself! I really want to know whether all these sportspersons who play at international level and travel all the while, are able to study any time during the year so that they can complete their graduation? I really think it’s difficult to balance both and without my family’s and coach’s support, it would have been very difficult because I am playing the Pro Circuit now. I have been travelling a lot and with that, studying while you are playing tournaments is not possible for me as I need to relax during matches. So the only time I can study is just before the exams and for that too I have to reduce the number of hours I play tennis. And as you must be aware, at this level nobody can afford to miss their training sessions. This time I came back from the Hyderabad tournament and gave my F.Y.BCom exams after 4 days.

How much help and support has Lakshya-Bharat Forge been giving to your career?

It has helped me reach the no.1 spot in the country. Also because of Lakshya, I have been able to meet successful sports personalities (Mr. Gagan Narang, Dr. Vece Paes, Mr. Viswanathan Anand and many more) who have given me a lot of inspiration.

What are your next tournaments?

I will be travelling to Indonesia for one 25K and then to Uzbekistan for two 25Ks. After that, we have a few tournaments in India itself, so this is my plan.

What are your goals for 2013?

My goal is to get within the top 300 in the WTA Singles ranking by the end of this year.