Khelo India Youth Games, tennis: KIYG tennis gold is a milestone in the long road to big dreams for Gujarat’s Dev Javia

Pune, January 19: Indian tennis players are achieving milestones in doubles around the world, but the search for the singles star who can get into top 10 or 20 still continues.

The Khelo India Youth Games might have just thrown up a star, Dev Javia from Gujarat, who emerged as the Boys Under-17 champion, who could do that. He still has a long way to go, but he does have a dream and is willing to work hard to make it happen.

In 2016, Javia won titles in Indore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata in the Road to Wimbledon 2016 campaign and later played in sub-juniors U-14 at Wimbledon. He has fond memories of the tournament as he received advice from Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic on serving and toss. It is an experience he will never forget as he pursues his dream of getting to the upper echelons of the sport.

The dapper left handed Dev Javia hails from a small town named Ankleshwar in Gujarat. The former Under-12 and U-14 India no. 1 impressed everyone here at Pune's Shree Shiv Chhatrapati tennis stadium as he produced a series of upsets defeating top seeds en route to the final. He played great tennis defeating Aryaan Bhatia of Maharashtra 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the U-17 gold in singles.

“Playing more international tournaments has helped my ranking. In 2018, I reached the quarterfinals in Thailand and Hong Kong ITF G-2 junior singles. My coach Shrimal Bhatt has taken lots of efforts that improved my volley skills, techniques, fitness and intensity. I've made a good start to 2019, winning gold here at KIYG ", said Javia, who trains at the Elteval Academy in Ahmedabad

On asking how his love for tennis started, Javia said, “Like other Indian kids, I used to follow cricket, but tennis has been my first love as I used to watch tennis passionately. Back in Ankleshwar, I used to play on a clay court but then on the weekend, I used to travel to Baroda to play tennis. I started playing better and about five years back my parents enrolled me in the Shaishya Tennis Academy, which is now known as Elteval Academy in Ahmedabad."

Javia added, “Things have changed drastically ever since I moved to Ahmedabad. The academy here has great facilities and infrastructure. Recently they have done a tie-up with Alexender Vance Tennis Academy of Germany, so we get expertise from foreign coach too. Special fitness sessions are conducted by coaches from USA and Germany. I'm receiving good support from Govt. of Gujarat as I'm sponsored under the Shaktidoot scheme. Overall, there have been several tennis academies in Ahmedabad and so the competition level has increased in Gujarat itself."

On long term plans, Javia said, “It’s ambitious but I want to represent India in Davis Cup; want to be become a first Indian player to win a Grand Slam in singles and become a Top 10 player.”