After the immense success of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, the meteoric return of Sania Mirza and Paes, it is several Indian juniors who have announced their arrival on the tennis map. The youngsters have played – and had immense success – at several ITF tournaments and have been acknowledged by both the WTA and the ATP.
If current trends are anything to go by, it appears that Indian women’s tennis is on a major upswing.
We profile five of India’s rising young tennis talents:
Prarthana Thombare
Tennis has long been regarded as an elitist sport, with significant amounts of money required to back an athlete until they win enough to break even. That involves not only equipment but travel costs, training and camps, which are arguably the most significant epxenditure. Players are often sent abroad to for training across surfaces and under specific coaches, and these camps are often expensive.
From a village in Maharashtra, Thombare travelled 70km a day to train; after her initial successes, the family decided to move to Solapur and then eventually to Hyderabad, where Thombare enrolled at the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy, run by Mirza’s father, tennis coach Imran Mirza.
A doubles specialist, the 22-year-old has been a regular fixture on the ITF circuit this year, partnering a series of international players. She has taken ITF doubles titles at Puebla and Montpellier, making the finals at an ITF event in Irapuato, Mexico.
Thombare will be seen partnering Sania Mirza at the women’s doubles in Rio this August, and Thombare has said she is confident of her chances there. It will be the first
Karman Kaur Thandi
2015 WTA Futures Star winner Thandi began playing tennis at 8 years old in 2006. Now 18, Thandi is an active presence on the ITF circuit. The teenager has not had the ideal start to 2016, with a highest semi-final finish at the ITF Santa Margherita de Pula 5 in Italy; last year, she made the finals of an ITF event in Indore, India, putting up a close three-set fight to finish the runner-up.
Thandi, like many other Indian players, has had significantly more success at the doubles, winning two titles at Gulbarga on the ITF circuit, partnered on both occasions by Dhruti Tatachar Venugopal.
Unlike Thombare, Thandi is yet to play any major events on the WTA circuit, but she is definitely a player to look out for in the future.
Adil Kalyanpur
India has seen a strong rising female presence in tennis, but 16-year-old Kalyanpur is one of the new stars of men’s tennis. Although he has played a handful of ATP Challenger events, the Bengaluru native has a number of ITF doubles tournaments under his belt.
He has played only one tournament so far this year, and partnered by experienced Indian player Sanam Singh, Kalyanpur finished at the semi-finals of an India F1 Futures event in Chandigarh; the pair, up against old hands Vishnu Vardhan and Sriram Balaji, were eventually defeated in straight sets.
2016 is his first year on the professional circuit, but Kalyanpur is already making his presence felt. Currently ranked second on the Under-18 AITA rankings, Kalyanpur could be one to look out for in the future of Indian doubles.
Vasisht Cheruku
India’s top-ranked Under-18 player, Vasisht Cheruku most recently participated at a Futures event in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and partnered by Suraj R Prabodh, exited in the semi-finals at the event, but put up a spirited fight, taking the first set to a tiebreak and the match to a super tiebreak before his eventual loss.
He has shown some proficiency in the singles, too, reaching the finals of an ITF Juniors event in Kolkata last year. Perhaps one of the few youngsters in India who have shown skill in both singles and doubles, Cheruku is only in the fledgling stages of his professional career, and should he be able to keep up his ITF circuit consistency, can do well in the future.
Pranjala Yadlapalli
Labelled at one time the ‘successor of Sania Mirza’, Pranjala Yadlapalli is yet to win WTA titles, but has been an active presence on the ITF circuit this year.
The 17-year-old managed a Round of 16 finish at the Australian Open Juniors this year in the singles, progressing to the quarter-finals in the girls doubles – where she lost a closely-fought match with partner Karman Kaur Thandi.
Yadlapalli had a title win last year at the prestigious Orange Bowl championships in Plantation, Florida, taking the girls’ doubles title with partner Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia.
Her most recent professional outing – at the Asian B1 ITF Pune Open Junior Tennis Championships in Pune, India this May, went quite successfully for the teen, who finished in the finals of the girls’ singles.
She eventually lost to China’s Xiyu Wang, but Yadlapalli played a consistent game for her wins. The youngster still needs work on keeping pace and momentum during her matches, but should she move forward on her current path of progress, could be
