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As a year ends and another starts, let us look at some of the storylines that appeared in Indian tennis circles and how they could evolve in the coming year.
Mirza magic mesmerises millions
With her stellar performances this year, Sania Mirza has stolen the hearts of millions. Along with partner Cara Black, she has emerged as one of the most formidable forces in women’s doubles today. Ranked as high as no.5, 2014 saw Sania clinch three titles with Black and the U.S Open Mixed doubles crown with Bruno Soares. Though one could keep lamenting that the pairing of Mirza and Black never accomplished all that enthusiasts envisioned after their early success in late 2013, the duo ended their stint, a rather short one for a successful partnership without much explicit hassles, as partners on a very high note by clinching the WTA Championships in Singapore.
Off-court, she faced a few controversies at home, but thwarted them off pretty well. After her initial refusal to participate, she joined the Indian tennis contingent at the Incheon Asian Games and clinched the bronze in Women’s doubles and gold in Mixed.
The coming year will see her open her campaign in Brisbane with new partner Hsieh Su Wei, a two time Women’s doubles Grand Slam Champion and former no.1. The Taipei player is known for her unorthodox play for which she uses both her fists on either side. Sania will reunite with former partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second week before continuing with Su-Wei for the Australian Open and onwards. She has also announced that she will pair with Soares at the Australian Open.
On a steady rise for over a year, Sania’s play has even prompted some to mull whether she will return to singles play, for which she has answered in negative. With renewed vigour and age on her side, Sania has the potential and time to capture a few more Grand Slams and possibly even complete a career slam in mixed doubles with just the Wimbledon title missing from her trophy cabinet.
The boys who are yet to become men
It has been a few years and the likes of Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan still cling on to the rankings in the 200-300 categories. Given his exploits at the futures level in doubles, Balaji was expected to do well in the higher category tournaments. The year did start well for him. He, in tandem with Ramkumar Ramanathan, reached the second round of the Chennai Open as wildcards. The first challenger held in India after a long gap, also held in Chennai, saw him reach the doubles final with upcoming star Blaz Rola. Yet, the fuel that propelled him to such results seemed to run down as the year progressed. He clinched a few titles at the futures level, both in singles and doubles
Another such player is Nedunchezhiyan. He reached a semifinal at a Challenger held on clay courts, but failed to perform any better at that level. He too, clinched a few titles in the futures level this year.
Sanam singh, a former junior no.4, had a good outing on doubles courts this year. His singles performance was not very satisfactory with scattered good results. He managed to clinch a few doubles titles at the challenger level and the silver medal at the Asian Games in the Men’s doubles with team mate Saketh Myneni.
The coming year offers plenty of opportunity for them as they continue their quest to break into the top league. Balaji and Nedunchezhiyan will start the year as a wildcard pair at the Chennai Open in doubles. Success in the coming year will surely inspire many more youngsters and allure more fans to the game.
Ankita and her inspired cohort
This year has seen Ankita Raina record come of her best results. With singles finals in $25,000 tournaments, including a win and two such runs in doubles with a title and two more in the $10,000 and $15,000 categories, she has been the most successful and promising player in the year that passed. With better results by the day, she is slowly making her way up the rankings ladder.
Other players who has good results include Sharrmadaa Baluu, Prarthana Tombare, Natasha Palha and Bhuvana Kalva, to name a few. They are all lingering in the lower levels of competition in the ITF circuit. With an increased number of higher category tournaments in India, they had a better chance to compete against the better players this year.
Youngsters like Karman Kaur Thandi and Snehadevi Reddy have also been doing well on the ITF circuit. In fact, Karman won the WTA future stars tournament held in Singapore along with the WTA Championships.
The coming year hopefully witnesses better performances from them. Ankita is the best bet in the given circumstances, though others cannot be discounted.
The lingering hope on Somdev and Yuki
The performances of Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri, after a promising start to the season, were the most difficult for Indian fans to digest. Somdev had a rather lacklustre year with just a challenger title to his credit. He has even dropped out of the top 100. He finds himself in the qualifying draw of the Australian Open. With deteriorating performances, it remains to be seen whether he can recreate the magic that won the hearts of many and raised hopes of Indian tennis fans. If that happens the coming year, there can be nothing better for the fans to cheer about.
Yuki Bhambri has for long been touted as the next singles talent for Indian but had long failed to fill in that shoe. Still in its initial years, Bhambri’s career has been plagued by injuries. He is a sure talent but has failed to perform consistently due to such injuries. He started this year on a beautiful note with a quarterfinal run at the Chennai Open in singles, a third round finish at the Australian Open doubles and two titles at the Chennai challenger in February.
He picked up an injury just two weeks after the Chennai challenger and returned to action with below par results. He put up a sorry show at the Davis Cup tie in Banglore, but managed to win two bronze medals at the Asian games in Men’s singles and Men’s doubles. The coming year will see him fight right from the qualifiers at the Chennai Open, as he has not been awarded a wildcard this time. He is also in the Australian Open qualifiers list. Bhambri is a sure talent and just needs to perform consistently to reach the upper echelons of the sport. Hopefully, the year 2015 sees him remaining injury free and breaking into the top 100.
Doubles veterans slump, but never disappoint
The year 2014 has been a rather forgettable one for our doubles players. Mahesh Bhupathi stopped playing after the Indian Wells Masters. Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna managed just one title each. Both have lost their ground in the ranking, falling out of the top 10. 2014 was also the first year when no Indian featured in the year end ATP Championships in fourteen years.
In 2015, both will look to bounce back, dismissing their slump in 2014 as a temporary phenomenon. Paes, who plans to play at least till the Rio Olympics, is going to partner Raven Klaasen next year. He will look to gain lost ground and re-enter the top 10 or even the top 5 with improved performances. He has shown that age is just a number with his scintillating performances recently
Bopanna will start the year with veteran and one of the greatest doubles players of all times Daniel Nestor. After a decent year for the Canadian with Nenad Ziminjic, he is looking for better performances with the considerably young Indian. In the recently held IPTL, Bopanna showed some of his class by scoring victories in doubles for his team, Indian Aces.
The return of our doubles players to form will not be a humungous task like that of our singles players. It is far less worrisome than the state of our top singles players. Regaining form and combining well with a new partner will easily take these experienced players to the upper echelons of doubles in the coming year
The maturing boys : Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan
If two Indians have exhibited promising talent, flirted with success and managed to break stereotypes, they are none other than Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Ramkumar, the first story to emerge this season, began his 2014 with a win over Indian no.1 Somdev Devvarman at the Chennai Open. He also reached the quarterfinals of the doubles competition. With his game and character, he mesmerised the Chennai crowds. He headed into the season on the back of futures titles from the previous year. Still young, he has been largely conservative in his selection of tournaments. He has mostly played in futures tournaments outside of India. He experienced good results during his stints in Turkey and Spain, where he played many tournaments, clinching a handful of titles. He will start 2015 as a wildcard entrant at the Chennai Open in singles. He is also in the list for Australian Open qualifiers. With his performances improving by the day, he can surely better his position in world tennis in the coming year.
Saketh Myneni had a wonderful year in both doubles and singles. He started the year with a thoroughly impressive run to the semifinals of doubles at the Chennai Open. The year also saw him hoist a couple of doubles trophies in challenge level tournaments. He also won the silver and gold medals at the Asian Games in Men’s and Mixed doubles. With his ranking hovering arund 150, he has very good chances to make it big.
His exploits on the single court have also been commendable. He lifted his first challenger title in 2014 on his birthday and followed it up with a last 4 finish the next week. Though his rankings will not suffice to enter the Australian Open qualifiers, opportunities abound for this talented player from Andhra.
Returning tennis hero: Mahesh Bhupathi
The resounding success of the IPTL saw Mahesh Bhupathi basking in glory. With the success of his brainchild, the IPTL, the veteran has decided to resume competitive play.
He played his last tournament this year at Indian Wells. His break from the game aroused speculations on his possible retirement, without playing a formal final match. He had initially announced that Wimbledon 2014 would be his final tournament and announced his partner too. Yet, he did not make it to SW19 and that disappointed fans as they were waiting to see his final match.
Come 2015, there will be no regrets. Yes, Bhupathi is planning to take back to courts. He has been awarded a wildcard entry to the Chennai Open with Saketh Myneni. It has also been announced that he will play at the Australian Open with Grand Slam winner Jurgen Melzer. His schedule beyond the Australian Open is yet to be announced. If he continues to play, it will be a major boost to Indian prospects in the international arena.
Raja and Sharan- the lost heroes
A year or two back, Puav Raja and Divij Sharan were slowly making progress on the doubles circuit. Both broke into the top 100 and even captured an ATP 250 title in Columbia in late 2013. Yet, their inconsistent results clearly manifested the fact that the pairing didn’t work. The two have gone separate ways, but have found little success on the ATP tour. With them being ranked in the top 150, they could find it hard to enter ATP events.
2014 saw them playing with different partners on the circuit. Yet, none of the partnerships clicked. Sharan displayed good form towards the end of the year with some good performances with Yuki Bhambri. He even clinched the Men’s doubles gold at the Asian Games. Raja, on the other hand, experienced some success with Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Filipino Ruben Gonzalez. The latter combination made it to the finals of the Asia-Oceania wild card playoff for the Australian Open. Another noteworthy mention is Purav Raja’s exploits in the playoffs, this time in singles. He came up with stellar performances to upset a few seeds and made it to the semifinals before falling to a Chinese opponent.
The next year could be crucial for the two of them. A return to top 100 will be possible with consistent results in the Challengers level, which means finding a good partner. Stable partnerships could boost their prospects in their endeavour to join the top league.
The year 2014 saw our players recording mixed results. Sania almost overshadowed our men’s doubles players, while some of our players have shown promising talent that could possibly fetch success in the forthcoming season. Hopes abound and cheers never dull. Will 2015 see better and improved results? The scope is immense, opportunities are innumerable, but the task is humungous. Will he? Can she? Could they? Let us wish our players a Happy New Year 2015 and say, yes!
