India's rising tennis stars

As the Chennai Open, the only ATP event in India, continues in full flow, a number of positives have come the hosts’ way in the first week. Though the local challenge ended in the singles, two Indian pairs look favorites to grab the title. One is the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna and the other is the Indo-Serbian pair of Leander Paes and Janko Tipsarevic. Bhupathi and Paes are seasoned customers and they have carried the country on their shoulders for a long, long time. But the time has come for India’s next tennis stars to show their mettle to the world.

The highest-ranked Indian, Somdev Devvarman, had a pleasing start to his career reaching the final of the Chennai Open in 2009 where he finished lost to Marin Cilic. He broke into the top 100 the following year but not before causing some major upsets. But his ranking hasn’t been consistent as he has been in and out of the top 80. Currently ranked 84, Somdev failed to achieve his target of breaking into the top 50 in 2011 thanks to some first-round defeats in major tournaments. Still, his stamina, court-coverage and baseline hitting stands out among the Indians and this clearly makes him a top prospect. He is undoubtedly the best hope for India in the future.

Next on the line of rising stars is Yuki Bhambri, the 19-year-old who stunned the nation by becoming the junior world no. 1. His knack of causing upsets continues as he set up a stunning 6-2 6-3 victory over the seasoned Karol Beck in the first round of the Chennai Open this year. Bhambri upset his opponent, ranked 244-places higher at 101, and 10 years his senior, in 80 minutes as the centre court crowd cheered vociferously for the 19-year-old. But his career in the professional circuit hasn’t been as smooth as it may sound since a long chain of injuries had laid him low. In spite of that Bhambri is ranked 345 and has enough time by his side to be India’s next big thing in tennis. All he needs to do is to remain fit and healthy and keep playing well. Simple it may sound, but it not so!

Ranked 312 in the world, Hyderabadi tennis player, Jagadeesan Vishnu Vardhan has shown enough talent to become a world-class tennis player for India. The 24-year-old has time on his side and he can do justice to his talent by grabbing the opportunities that come his way. He had a chance to pull off the biggest victory of his career recently at the Chennai Open 2012. Pitted against world no. 36 Ivan Dodig, nobody fancied the Indian who, at one time, looked set to cause a huge upset leading 6-5 and 40-15 in the second set but failed to finish it off. It cost him the match as the Croatian turned in a dominating performance in the final set and finally won the tie.

Rohan Bopanna has come of age as a doubles player, but he is also handy in the singles. Bopanna doesn’t have enough time left in his career, but a good show in the Olympics could propel him to stardom. He is ranked no. 11 in doubles but in singles, he is still outside the top 200.

Karan Rastogi, Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash and Prajnesh Gunneswaran are some of the Indians who are in the fray but they are still to impress with their performance. It will be quite pleasing for the country if all these players can leave a mark in world tennis.