Indian Tennis in Review : 2015

Lows

Another disappointing year for Somdev, Ramanathan

Formely the top-ranked Indian player, Devvarman has been floundering of late

Despite having won 2 Challenger titles, even defeating top-ranked Indian singles player Yuki Bhambri in one of those finals, former Indian No. 1 Somdev Devvarman has had a disappointing year.

He dropped to a new low in the world rankings as he ended the year ranked 178. Of the 19 challenger tournaments he played this year, he was knocked out in the first round at 10 of those tournaments.

He has himself recognised this drop, and by hiring a new coach, cutting down on junk food and putting more hours on honing his serve, he will be looking to get back to his top game and breaking back into the top 100 next year.

“I am working hard with my coach. We are doing everything we can. He has known me for many many years. The work we are doing will take a little but of time. But we both are optimistic and both believe in my game. It’s important to be patient and don’t expect miracles overnight.” he said of his training.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, who looked promising in 2014, was not the same this year as he had a string of poor results at the Challenger level.

Saketh Myneni, however, has had a reasonable amount of success at the doubles level in a couple of Challenger tournaments.

Indian singles players need financial backing

One of the main reasons why India has not produced a world class singles player is because of the lack of financial backing from the Indian governement and companies.

Tennis has always been a sport where one needs to invest a large amount of money into to be succesful. There are private firms which promote athletes across various disciplines with the intention of helping players achieve international success.

Despite these companies existing, they are not ready to financially invest into singles tennis players in India citing that they are not capable of achieving an Olympic medal.

“I have tried but they always declined saying they do not help tennis players. I have no clue in India who does support or is willing to support tennis players besides the Tennis Association or the oil companies. ONGC has helped but I need much more to get to the next level,” Bhambri has said.

This is also a possible reason for many children not taking up tennis depsite being interested and emotionally invested in the sport. There is a need for these companies to invest in such players so as to improve the level of singles in India.

Only if this changes, and quickly, will India be able to see a competent singles player at the top.