Australian open 2019

[PKBasu]

What a marvellous male-Cinderella story. Congratulations, Prajnesh Gunneswaran!!

[sscoobeedoo]

good that PG got the job done.
why is he standing so far on the return?; would need to improve % won on second serve, his own is at 20% and on opponent's at 18%.

[knarayen]

It was obvious that it was going to be close all the way to the end. I think the Gunner noticed one possible pattern that could be applied at key points - keep the rally going at top speed and throw in a change up to induce an error - this happened quite a few times when the younger player would try to whack a clean winner and often would error out. Standard inexperience but it needs to be exploited carefully and without the other guy catching on - I think Gunner mastered this in the final set. He got the errors when he wanted. His experience paid off in the end.

Now he is transitioning into the main draw 5-setters which is a different ball game - he now needs to pace himself to ensure he stays the distance.

Prof

[jayakris]

counting... chickens... before... they... are... hatched...

Jay Bhai chickens have hatched ...

Yep, you counted right! Good that you weren't chicken about it, like me.... So great to see our Gunner coming through.

[sameerph]

What a performance from Prajnesh to come back from a set down and pull off this win.

I could to not watch the third set after Prajnesh was broken back at 1-1. But, he looked determined to win this and stayed strong and got another break.

The players who beat RamK and Ankita in the Q2 in close matches went on to qualify for main draw again signalling that they too played well and with a little luck, could have qualified too ( particularly RamK).

Now we seem to be getting decent on getting players coming thru qualifiers in last 6-8 years as compared to a decade before that. I will check later how many qualifiers have been there in last 6-8 years.

[jaydeep]

What a comeback win by Prajnesh against the talented Japanese youngster ...

In his first grand slam main-draw match, he can get chance of playing against Djoker.

[Rajiv]

In his first grand slam main-draw match, he can get chance of playing against Djoker.

That's what I thought , when i saw the draw yesterday , and if that happen's he will do an Istomin

[PKBasu]

Two years ago, Prajnesh was ranked in the 320s, not high enough to even play the Australian Open qualifying rounds! In February 2017, he played and beat Watanuki (then ranked near 700) in the Kyoto Challenger qualifying rounds. He won 2 Futures in India (making 3 consecutive finals) in March 2017, and 1 in China (making 2 finals) in June 2017, marking the start of his serious run in the pro ranks.
But by the time last year's AO came around, he was still ranked only 247, and lost in 3 sets to Tobias Kamke in Q1. Then, of course, on a chilly day in Tianjin, he rose to the occasion to deliver a spectacular victory over reigning US Open junior champ Wu Yibing in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup tie. A couple of weeks later, he beat Mohamed Safwat in the final of the US$150K Anning Challenger in Kunming. Then, of course, he had that heartbreak in Paris: losing a close Q3 to Elias Ymer, Prajnesh swiftly left to play an Italian Challenger -- only to discover (upon landing, via frantic email messages from VReddy and me, among others!) that he was in line for a Lucky Loser slot in the FO main draw. Unfazed by that disappointment, Prajnesh qualified into the Stuttgart ATP on grass and stunned #25 Denis Shapovalov in the first round on the grass of Stuttgart.
A couple of injuries set him back thereafter, but he was again tearing up the Challenger circuit in the final months of 2018, winning the US$150K Challenger in Bangalore to crown his marvellous 2018.
So here he is at last: a proper tennis pro, playing the main draw of a Slam. We couldn't be happier for you, Prajnesh!!

[sameerph]

Now we seem to be getting decent on getting players coming thru qualifiers in last 6-8 years as compared to a decade before that. I will check later how many qualifiers have been there in last 6-8 years.

Leander qualified in for Wimbledon in 2001. Since then there was no one for 8 years till 2009. After that the record has been better. These are the ones who qualified into main draw since then-

2009- US open- Somdev Devvarman
2010 French open- Somdev Devvarman
2013- French open- Somdev Devvarman
2013 US open- Somdev Devvarman
2015 Australian open- Yuki Bhambri
2016 US open- Saketh Myneni
2018 Australian open- Yuki Bhambri
2019 Australian open - Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

So, after no qualifying spots for 8 years between 2001 and 2009 ( don't think anyone even came close to qualifying), we have had 8 qualifiers in last 10 years. Showing that compared to those lean years, we have been lucky to get 4 top 100-150 players in last decade- Somdev, Yuki, Saketh and Prajnesh and we have another one- Ramkumar who may be able to do this soon.

Now for the next step of consistently winning main draw matches at slams and consistently being in top 100 at least. That is something which Prajnesh, RamK and hopefully Yuki can achieve in next 3-5 years.

[prasen9]

Also hoping for a year where we have a main draw player in multiple slams. Have not had that since Somdev. Doing so would mean that our players are able to keep up the standard of play and are possibly within the top 128 (or 100) players consistently.

[arjun2761]

Of course, Yuki was also in multiple slam draws directly last year but was not fit to play to his abilities. Hopefully, Prajnesh makes the main draw in the latter slams directly this year and stays fit through the year.

[PKBasu]

NRI Astra Sharma (AUS, 230) has also qualified into the main draw. She created quite a stir by beating Vera Zvonareva (former world #2) in Q1, but has now safely made it through to the main draw. Her parents are Indians from Singapore who migrated to Perth when she was young. She is 23.

[jaydeep]

Prajnesh will face the young American Frances Tiafoe in the first round ... That means, we need to wait for his matchup against Djoker in the grand slam ...

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,112) vs Frances Tiafoe (USA,39)

[Rajiv]

Yesterday as I drew a list of preferred opponents for PG and Tiafoe's name was in that list.
So now GS R2 calling.......

[PKBasu]

Tough draw for Prajnesh, with 5th seeded Kevin Anderson looming in R2. His R1 opponent, 21 year old Frances Tiafoe won the Delray Beach ATP title last year and is at about his career-high ranking. He had a dismal time in the Hopman Cup, losing to Norrie, Tsitsipas and Federer, and then lost to Millman in R1 of the ATP Sydney tournament. At the ATP NextGen tournament, he won his first match against Hurkacz, but then lost his next 2 matches.

So the promising Tiafoe (ranked 38, and the great hope of US tennis) is on a 6-match losing streak. Prajnesh needs to take advantage of his low morale at the start of the match, and not let his opponent get a look-in thereafter. Go Gunners!