New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

Definitely. Digvijay is the one to focus on, among the 22-and-under youngsters. He should get up to at least top-400, if not top-250 or 300 down the line.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by PKBasu »

Ultimately disappointing that, in a field with so few foreigners, we have an all-foreign singles semifinal. Let's hope Digvijay or Niki can stop them in the final.

We had an all-Indian doubles final though:

[F] 3-Vishnu Vardhan/Nitin Kumar Sinha d. Manish Sureshkumar/Parikshat Somani 62 36 10-7

It was originally shown as being played tomorrow afternoon after the singles SF, but seems to have been completed today. A pity as I had hoped to watch them play. The air quality in Delhi has been absolutely awful this week (easily the worst of the year, with smoke visible and "smellable").
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

^^^ :( :( ... Maybe we will have play stoppage due to poor visibility!
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by sameerph »

PKBasu wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 5:54 pm We had an all-Indian doubles final though:

[F] 3-Vishnu Vardhan/Nitin Kumar Sinha d. Manish Sureshkumar/Parikshat Somani 62 36 10-7

It was originally shown as being played tomorrow afternoon after the singles SF, but seems to have been completed today. A pity as I had hoped to watch them play. The air quality in Delhi has been absolutely awful this week (easily the worst of the year, with smoke visible and "smellable").
That was SF, not final. Nitin-Vishnu play final today against another Indian pair Niki and Rithvik who had won a 25K title last week.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

Oh, I didn't even notice that above. Yeah; I think Niki and Rithvik are in great form, and would be tough for any scratch pair to beat (though you never know if Vishnu is in that team!)
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

This was nearly 3 hours of a dogfight, but I am glad the younger one came through against quite a tough fighter in Niki, after being on the brink of defeat. In fact Niki had broken him 4 times in a row and won 8 games in a row before Digvijay started his comeback. Niki had him at multiple BPs in the third set in two games too, but couldn't break him.

[SF] (3) Digvijay Pratap Singh (IND,668) d. (7) Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND,857), 16 75 63
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

DigvijayPratap's final will be against the 5th seed Florent Bax (FRA,788) who upset the top seed Oliver Crawford (USA,358), 63 76(9)...

The 8 points should take DPS up about 50 spots to around 625 in ranking (after a week).

The doubles title went to Niki and Rithvik, who beat Nitin and Vishnu, 76(4) 62... Back-to-back titles, following the M25 at Monastir for the pair. They have really come along nicely.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

Niki and Rithvik, who are at #532 and #723 (both career-highs) are now at 465 and 593 in live doubles rankings for next Monday (when their 25 pts from the Monastir M25 go in)... With 15 more for the Delhi M15 title, Niki should move up another 40 spots and Rithvik another 70 spots to somewhere around 425 and 525 a week from Monday.

I am glad to see that Rithvik is getting somewhere, at least in doubles. He was one of our top juniors (was in the junior Davis Cup team etc). Talented player who was once coached by a very good coach Nagaraj in Hyderabad. But had gone to US for college tennis at age 17 and disappeared. Played at Utah State Univ and then transferred to the Univ of South Florida - two decent but lower-level programs. I don't remember noticing him in college rankings. Anyway, he graduated from USF this June and went to Monastir for pro events. I don't think he has tried playing singles at all, but started playing with Niki, and the rest seems history now!

Rithvik is only 21 year old, so he might go places. He still has not played any singles matches at the pro level. No qualies, nothing, though he was at Monastir for a long stretch learning the doubles ropes from Niki his senior partner. Awfully early to focus on just doubles, but hey, it is working!
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by sameerph »

Some of our younger players are beginning to take a decision at a very early age that they are not going to make it on pro tour in singles and only have a chance in doubles and turning doubles specialists very early. 2 players who did that recently are Aniruddh Chandrashekar and now Rithvik. We can say that eventually it paid off if they manage to get to ATP tour level in doubles. I think playing on challenger tour all their career will not be financially viable. That was the reason why almost everyone earlier tried a lot on singles tour earlier and turned to doubles only in thier 30's and at best late 20's when they realised that they cannot make it on singles tour. Now, this is a new trend of turning to doubles without even trying for few years in singles.

At world stage, there is 1 player who turned doubles specialist very early was Mate Pavic and he went on to become a regular top 10 player. But, he too played on futures and challenger tours and reached a career high singles ranking of 296 before giving up singles.

This is a new template that Aniruddh and Ritwik are trying. I am not sure if others on world tour are trying similar thing. Maybe there are. Lets see if they succeed.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by VReddy »

Sameer - I think some statements from your side might be inaccurate

1. There are ton of players who specialize in doubles early. I don't follow tennis much outside of India and Switzerland but to bane a few with Indian connection: Luisa Stefani (Sanjay Singh sir), Julian Cash (Arjun Kadhe) and Joe Salisbury (Paes, Rajeev).

Infact Saketh is a living example of that failure to specialise early. Leander, after the Spain Davis Cup where he and Saketh took a set off against Olympic Gold Medalists, remarked that if Saketh specialised early - he could possibly be a contender for Grand Slam title sometime soon in doubles.

Unfortunately Saketh has only specialised now - which means he can be a top 50 player but not top-20.

2. Financial consideration: You don't make any money in singles or doubles on the challenger tour. On the other hand, playing Futures in singles with occasional challenger main draw vs Challenger doubles with occasional ATP Tour main draws - you know which is more enticing.

Pls also factor Accommodation costs - you get free accommodation for Challenger vs never in Futures

3. Sponsorship: There are no sponsors for singles until say you crack top 150. In doubles, KPIT and others are generally supportive with sponsorship if you crack top 200 in doubles (top 200 singles is way more harder).

4. Govt funds range from 20-60 lakhs per annum if you are guaranteed to play in Asian, commonwealth and Olympic games. Much easier to make the cut say for Asian Games doubles than singles.

5. Western countries focus on singles. India is a doubles first country in treating all rankings, achievements the same. Best to specialise in field where there is lesser competition.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

But anyway, it is an interesting experiment that a couple of younger players are doing. The thing is that you just need somebody senior in the singles circuit to commit to playing doubles also, who has the willingness to pick you up and bring you along. Sort of like what Harsh Mankad did with Treat Huey (though Treat just moved on and left harsh behind, so to say). To some extent, LP also did this, though Hesh was definitely known for his superb abilities already and had come up to the rankings needed for challenger entries. LP did change his singles schedule and added 3 or 4 challengers to bring MB along though, so he deserves some credit there.

But really, you do need a senior partner to take you on - and that makes it much easier. It seems Niki did that with Rithvik. Prashanth with Anirudh too.

Actually, what I would like to see is some of our singles players doing what Harsh, LP and Niki etc tried. It is to your own benefit. Identify a young player who seems to have the tools that complement your game (I remember Harsh speaking at length about that with me, when he picked Treat for a few events) and bring him along. There are quite a few good youngsters who probably aren't too confident of making a living from just singles who will come with you. You make some extra money, and if it works, you may strike gold. They may be content with the occasional chance to sign in and play singles qualies too - otherwise they won't have the money/ability to go to events abroad and play qualies anyway.

US college kids are the best for prime pickings. Note that MB, Treat, Rithvik etc all had college doubles experience. Unlike those on the tour, in college tennis, you do play doubles in every tie. So, if you have played 30 matches during a college season, you have probably also played 30 doubles matches (though a shortened version). But the idea of strategizing for doubles with a regular partner is routine in US college tennis, and the coaches do teach some of the strategies. They are not like the kids who moved on from juniors to pros, never had a regular partner, never played doubles with seriousness, and are pretty clueless at age 21 or 22 for an experienced player to start to strategize and get in sync with.

I hope somebody senior will pick up, for instance, Siddhant Banthia (in the same year cohort as Rithvik, iirc) as a regular doubles partner. I am doubtful if Siddhant has it in him to make waves in the singles circuit (hope I am wrong; this is just based on college and early pro results). But that is the kind of experiment that may pay off later. You save on accommodation, airport taxis, etc too if you get along and can share a room!
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by jayakris »

The Indore M25 qualies are starting just about now. Siddharth Viswakarma is the highest (2nd) seeded Indian, with a Japanese seeded as first. Aryan Shah, Sushant Dabas, Ajay Malik (10th seed), Faial Qamar (5th seed), Oges Theyjo Jayaprakash, L.Badrinath (7th seed), Yash Charasia (11th seed) etc are in the Q draw from the 23-and-under group. I don't see Madhvin Kamath, so I hope he got a wildcard to the main draw?

Haven't seen the main draw but it seems Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam, Joao Marcos Nusdeo (BRA) and Vishnu Vardhan who were the top-3 in the ALT list must have made the main draw.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by sameerph »

jayakris wrote: Sat Nov 05, 2022 2:32 pm DigvijayPratap's final will be against the 5th seed Florent Bax (FRA,788) who upset the top seed Oliver Crawford (USA,358), 63 76(9)...
And Digvijay wins the title after he wins the first set easily and his French opponent retired after that.

At New Delhi M15

[F] (3) Digvijay Pratap Singh (IND,668) d. (5) Florent Bax (FRA,788) 62 retired

First title for Digvijay and we must have a thread for him now.
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by Omkara »

Any idea, where in Mumbai?
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Re: New Delhi, Bhilai M15, Indore, Mumbai M25 - Oct 31-Nov 27, 2022

Post by vishalg »

As per the tournament page on ITF website.

Venue- Dr. G.A.Ranade Tennis Centre, 165, Maharshi Karve Road, Cooperage, Mumbai, 400 021, India
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