The sweet spot of Indian tennis: Myneni and Ramanathan

Ramkumar Ramanathan with Feliciano Lopez playing for Bangalore Raptors in the CTL

A fresh breeze is wafting across the tennis landscape of India. The growing culture of the sport and an intense desire to compete against the world are deepening the talent pool in India like never before. The increasing number of tennis tournaments and the rise of league sport has provided an expansive canvas for aspiring young men and women across the country. Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan, contemporaries in a strangely disconnected way, are part of this evolving landscape.

The duo were an integral part of the ongoing Champions Tennis League, a unique experiment driven by the vision of Vijay Amritraj and the passion of his son, Prakash. Myneni played for Rendezvous Pune Marathas alongside Pat Cash and Marcos Baghdatis, while Ramkumar is a part of the Bangalore Raptors team that included Feliciano Lopez and Venus Williams.

The two young men, separated by seven years, are travelers who have reached a similar destination through vastly different paths. Like a bottle of painstakingly crafted wine, Saketh needed to journey through the woods far longer than his younger compatriot.

Ramkumar has taken the escalator, drawing upon the benefits of working with the well-oiled tennis machinery in Spain. The 20 year old from Tamil Nadu has been a recipient of some invaluable support from the TNTA in Chennai.

On the other hand, Saketh is a self-made tennis player, honing his skills through the collegiate tennis system in the United States of America. A late starter from Visakhapatnam, Saketh was just an active kid who loved to play outdoors.

Saketh Myneni alongside Marcos Baghdatis playing for Rendezvous Pune Marathas

Late developer

He took to a tennis racquet, seeking physical activity at the age of 11, dabbling in it for three years before moving to Hyderabad to pursue it more seriously. “I had to deal with a lot of injuries from the beginning, because my development as a player was late by tennis standards. But I blossomed into a player under the guidance of C V Nagaraj at the RRC,” says the world No. 258.

“I did play a few junior events in India and did well, but I made real progress in Alabama where I went on a scholarship,” added Saketh, who traveled to the USA as an under graduate student in 2006. Not many were aware of his progress though, as he fell off the radar in India.

When he came back in 2011, SP Mishra, then captain of the Indian Davis Cup team saw the 24 year old man play in Hyderabad and convinced the AITA to allow Saketh a wild card to qualify for some ITF tournaments. Riding on that energy Saketh rode to a double triumph at the F9 Futures event in Chennai.

Since then Saketh has won eight other Futures events and a Challenger this year at Indore. A late bloomer, his time around the Indian team in the Davis Cup and recent successes at the Asian Games, have added to his confidence.Saketh believes that with a little luck and a lot of work, he could soon be enjoying the scent of the Promised Land – life on the ATP World Tour.

Ramkumar has risen up the world ranks to improve from 926 to his current standing of 211

Rise of Ramkumar

Interestingly, Ramkumar’s journey started in 2011 too. But there ends the similarities – he has risen rapidly up the ranks to improve from 926 at the end of that year to his current standing of 211 in the world rankings. The lanky lad started dabbling in tennis at the tender age of five and has practically spent most of his childhood nourishing a tennis-fuelled dream.

After taking initial lessons from T Chandrasekaran, Ramu as he is called by friends, moved base to the Sanchez-Casal academy in Barcelona. In the past two years, the 20 year old has transformed himself into a formidable player, shooting to prominence with a famous victory over Somdev Devvarman at the Chennai Open in December 2013.

The stories of these two young men converge suddenly as they become an integral part of the tennis setup in India, though they have arrived there in starkly contrasting manners. In the aftermath of his victory over Saketh to clinch the Gondwana Cup on his birthday 30th November 2013, Ramkumar was oozing confidence about his prospects.

“I believe the many hours of work at the academy in Barcelona is beginning to pay off. I am a much stronger player, both physically and mentally,” said Ramkumar. “I hope to improve my ranking to try and get to play at least the qualifiers of a grand slam event.”

It is this naked ambition that defines both Ramkumar and Saketh. The latter, when reminded of his age, shoots back by saying, “I might be 27, but physically I just do not have as many miles as an average player of my age because I have only worked the road for the past four years. I will make the tour, if I continue playing the way I am at the moment.”

Saketh with his gold medal win at the Asian Games, 2014

Template for future champions

The two athletes represent not just the immediate future of tennis in India, but serve up a template for producing more champions. It is clear that the Champions Tennis League have a strong pool of resources to pick from, if we could provide the right support to budding talent.

The presence of two juniors on each team of the Champions Tennis League is a dream platform for the young boys and girls who accompany their idols across the cities. The junior players set the court on fire with their brilliance in the opening sets of the dead rubber Mumbai vs Punjab match. The match underscored the stated objective of the CTL of giving Indian youngsters a chance to take centre-stage, playing in front of thousands of viewers.

(From left to right) Ironkill Mumbai Tennis Masters: Jayaprakash, Yadlapalli and Wave Punjab Marshalls Sunkara, Vaghela

Multiple rounds of practice with the big stars of the game and sharing the bench with them during the intense moments of the matches this week has provided invaluable insights to these young tennis players and helped accelerate the development of their game. Indian tennis is in a sweet spot and the future promises to be bright.

Originally published on the CTL website here.