Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholarship

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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholarship

Post by sameerph »

Here is another article by Mahesh in Times of India e-paper :-
It’s all in the legs: Bhupathi



Ruhi Batra | TNN



New Delhi: It’s easy to spot the difference between a champion and a pretender. “It’s all in the legs,’’ according to M a h e s h Bhupathi. In town to announce another tie-up of Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academies with Ansal AP1, the doubles champ minced no words when it came to Indian tennis and what it lacks.
  “Till the time we don’t take physical fitness seriously, we can’t compete and get the same results as others. Look at Federer and Nadal go at it for five hours. We need to reach that stage,’’ was Bhupathi’s opinion.
  “In India, I can never find a good physical trainer to take on tour with me because there isn’t any. We need to realise that diet and fitness play a very important role. In fact, we sent our Elite program kids (at the centre in Bangalore) for fitness tests in Europe and we just received the reports on Monday. They are so far behind their European counterparts,’’ he added.
  Bhupathi’s opinion gathers weight if one looks at Sania Mirza. She has taken huge strides when it comes to fitness and movement ever since trainer Heath Matthews has joined her entourage. Having a physical trainer helped Sania especially when it came to injury rehabilitation and she was able to keep fit even though she couldn’t hit the courts.
  “Sania is playing good tennis. It was fun playing with her,’’ he said warding off queries to compare her with his other partners.
  Winner of 10 Grand Slams, Bhupathi has taken on a more hands-on approach to the game and is intent on discovering champions who will take Indian tennis forward, though he doesn’t seem too perturbed with the current state of affairs.
  “There was a void for years before Leander and I came on to the scene. Rohan (Bopanna) has just won a title in Dublin last week, Prakash Amritraj has just qualified for the main draw at Newport and reached the second round. Sania is obviously there. I don’t think the future is bleak,’’ he asserted.
  He supported players like Sanam Singh and Somdev Dev Varman, who have opted for collegiate tennis in the US over slugging it out on Indian courts in ITF events.
  “There’s nothing wrong with it. You’re playing tennis there and if you’re good, you’ll continue to play the game. If not, at least you’ll get a degree. Look at Somdev. He won the NCAA title and will turn pro next year,’’ said Bhupathi, himself a former NCAA doubles champion.
He also stresses the importance of good physical trainers in India. It is good that he taking steps to measure the physical fitness of juniors under his elite acadamy. That way they can take steps at right age to bridge that gap in levels compared to European players.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholarship

Post by jayakris »

"It's all in the legs"

BINGO!

CHA-CHING!!

Mahesh could not be more accurate.  He probably meant it a bit more figuratively, but it is even accurate as a litmus test.  Take a look at the legs and you can probably pick out the ones who have potential for greatness.  Almost every one of our players (Leander, Somdev, and perhaps Sania as exceptions) is either too thin or too fat in their lower body.  Even Mahesh was not in great lower body form earlier on.  Take a look at ANY of the top tennis players, and regardless of where their upper body is - one item thatis clear is that theur legs are well-proportioned.

You show me the proper legs, and I will show you the one who is gonna make it.

Jay
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholarship

Post by v george »

Leander Paes has pointed out problems with coaching in India. Now Mahesh Bhupati is points out lack of good physical fitness trainers in India. These are known problems.  Why can't elite players like Paes and Bhupati suggest solutions to these problems?   
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholarship

Post by Insider »

I am glad the likes of Somdev are going to college--it is a must for personal development.  Rastogi should have done the same.  I would not want my son or daughter to be playing full-time tennis during these years, regardless of how good he/she was.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by eastind »

All the above posts dealt with going to the US on a Tennis scholarship but not getting a scholarship right here in India.
Many good colleges in India are offering Tennis scholarships and are offering free seats in Engineering,medicine and management courses which would cost a large amount if you had to pay a donation for those seats and some colleges are offering even education, hostel, mess expenses for free.
They also do not insist that you come everyday and attend college. They give full freedom for you to train and travel and you just have to pass the exams. ( you do have to study at home to pass)
In my opinion this system is perfect for Indians to take up tennis as a whole time sport and try to make it big. One can have the freedom to play men's tournaments and get to keep your winnings also. By the time you finish college you are also a lot more stronger and you are also mature to take on Pro tennis as a fulltime sport and even if you dont make it you still have a degree to fall back on and to top it all the education that you got was for free.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by suresh »

@eastind Thanks for pointing out this option. What is your son doing?
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by PKBasu »

It is good that some Indian (private) colleges are offering this option. It is attractive, but not quite a replacement for the experience of participating in US college tennis, which gives you high-quality coaching and the opportunity to play against Challenger or Futures-level players throughout the college year. Our experience has shown quite decisively that this option has paid off handsomely for Indian players (like Bhupathi, DevVarman, Mankad, Sanam Singh, etc.), while those who didn't go (like Karan Rastogi and Vivek Shokeen) suffered by comparison.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by vk2052 »

PKB you forgot to mention Yuki and vishnu here and also at least 50 indian players who went to states with no results- e.g. gajjar, saurabh kohli and many many more. And Yes, Karan did pretty well. In fact Yuki, Vishnu and Karan - these three are the only Indians, in the present batch, who reached a ranking inside 300. and all these three never went to us univ. Somdev and sanam are doing extremely well- no doubt. Mahesh never did any thing special in singles.Harsh did ok but not like somdev. So it is very difficult to generalise things. If they have done well in juniors- like karan and yuki did and they get good financial support then, it is better to turn pro by 18. Otherwise us univ is the best option.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by vk2052 »

And Yes, please dont forget, Karan lost at least three crucial years to that back injury. We are talking of somdev's shoulder injury and how it has taken almost one year and he is still struggling. PKB you will know better how serious is back surgery, in comparison to a shoulder surgery. So please give some credit to karan.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by PKBasu »

Yes, of course, I will give credit to Karan for what he achieved without going to a US college; he rose to the 320s, and had some superb wins over top-200 players and a handful over top-100 players, especially in India. But he was probably a more talented junior than Somdev, and Vivek Shokeen was more talented than Sanam Singh. Going to US college was clearly a positive experience for the two who went to UVa (and one aspect of the college experience is in learning how to handle the physical side well). Other college experiences have been less salutary, but I don't know of too many Indian players who did worse (than their inherent prospects) as a consequence of going to a US college.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by vk2052 »

Sanam was certainly more talented than shokeen. He reached singles sf aus open jr and reached career high jr ranking of 4. He even won a future title before going to us, whereas I dont remember Shokeen even reaching a final. Yes karan was more talented than somdev and reached a career best 282, despite all his problems. Rohan gajjar was national under 18 champion, before he went to usa. It all depends uopn the individual and how he adopts to the conditions. He may lead a disciplined life like somi and sanam and take full advantage of conditions. Yuki, Karan , Vishnu and now Balaji- none of them went to us univ. On the other hand Jeevan is from us univ but balaji has already overtaken him.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by vk2052 »

PKB Vijay Sunder defeated Jeevan. VSP never went to us univ but Jeevan went.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by PKBasu »

So? What does one match prove? VSP is a 25-year-old ranked 634, while Jeevan is a 23-year-old ranked 393. The latter clearly has the superior career record so far.
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by Omkara »

Met Mr. Atul Pande today. The reason for the meeting was completely different but what came out towards the end is that his daughter Ambika Pande was a Junior Indian Tennis player with best ranking of 194. She played along with Rutuja and Ratnika though as admitted by her own father, could never beat any of them. She is now with University of Tennessee as a freshman. I am adding her recruitment video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AL_410SdXI

The discussion went usual lines. How infra is bad in India... and also how fragile are Indian players. Most of the current crop, as per him, are too injury prone. The game has got physical, Ambika's coaches have told her that she is not ready for WTA tour. She is using these 4 years to not only improve upon her game but also her fitness level. The same applied to Rutuja and Ratnika too.
Apparently some coach in US told him that we would never get a 17-18 year Grand Slam champion ever
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Re: Turn pro at 18 yrs or go to US college on tennis scholar

Post by Atithee »

I watched this video. The forehand looks OK, backhand is so so, but the serve mechanics need a lot of work. Her serve reminds me of Sania's serving motion. Of course, I'm not an expert and have watched just a few minutes (not even the entire) of this video. But, good luck to her. The coaches at the University can help fix these, if they are an issue in the first place.
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