ITF Junior circuit 2023 India

[sameerph]

Yes, J30 is previous Grade 5 which was later renamed as J5 and now J30 based on points offered to the winner (30).

[PKBasu]

Aman Dahiya, now 18, who reached 62 in the junior rankings in Jan'22, seems to have faded now. Not playing juniors or pro events. Sad!

[PKBasu]

Vihaan Reddy was already 802 in the junior rankings at the start of this week. So the additional 30 points from this week's title will take him to around 630 in the rankings. Very impressive for a 13 year old.

[sameerph]

Aman Dahiya, now 18, who reached 62 in the junior rankings in Jan'22, seems to have faded now. Not playing juniors or pro events. Sad!

Aman Dahiya completed 18 years last August. So, eligibility for ITF juniors ended last year.

Not sure why he is not playing current series of Indian futures. But, it looks like he has been signed up by a university in US for a stint there-

Men's Tennis inks Indian Standout Dahiya

[jayakris]

^^^ I wish our players would go to some of the better tennis programs. Jacksonville State is not even in the top-75 of college programs in the US

[jayakris]

The Madurai J30 has started. I was rather shocked to see that Vihaan has taken another special eempt entry and is playing this week too. Four weeks of continuous tennis is not a good idea. He had played and won 16 matches on the trot in 19 days. That is a lot of tennis. Make it 17 now with a 61 63 win today in the R1. Hope he stays healthy. The kid needs to be given a break!! Come on.

He is already the #1 player in the world born after 2008 at an ITF junior ranking #642 (the next guy is Moise Kauame of France at #753). Is there any point in trying to get more points or more wins against guys who are just not at his level?

[Atithee]

^^^ I wish our players would go to some of the better tennis programs. Jacksonville State is not even in the top-75 of college programs in the US

Because only those will give scholarship to attend. Reflects the quality of player.

[jayakris]

^^^ Not really. At least not always. In many cases it is because the players don't do their homework. There are plenty of top-50 programs that would take somebody like Aman Dahiya who was a top-100 ITF junior. You need to identify them and contact them. Many of those coaches do not scout India much (the lower programs do because they know they can sweet talk somebody into going to "amriga" - not saying this was Aman's case, but it happens). Harsh Mankad only had a similar ranking in the juniors, iirc, but he went to a top-20 program at U.Minnesota and then became NCAA #1 because he did his homework to find them.

[Update: Just checked; I was closer than I thought. Harsh's highest junior ranking: #61. Aman Dahiya's highest: #62 ]

[jayakris]

At the Madurai J30, Vihaan is in the QF ... 13 year old Diya Ramesh, back from the junior u14 World Junior Tennis Asian qualifiers, upset the 2nd seed Niyati Kukreti who is four years older, in a comeback, 06 64 64. Prisha, Maaya and Harithasree of Diya's age group aren't playing this event. Nothing particularly noteworthy on the boys' side all through these 4 junior events, except Vihaan.

[sameerph]

Vihaan is into 4th straight final at Madurai with a 63 62 win in the SF. The match before that though in QF, he was given the toughest match of this 4 week cycle by Arjun Pandit ( against whom Vihaan had won in straight sets in final of first week) but Vihaan still won 75 in the third. This kid really looks mentally tough. He plays top seed Pratyaksh in the final.

Girls final is between 15 year old qualfier Sree Syleswari Velmanikandan who upset top seed Asmi Adkar in SF and third seed Amodini Naik.

[jayakris]

Yeah, the mental aspects of a 20 match win streak at age 13 is what amazes me. There were about 2 or 3 matches where he refused to go down. Jeez.

[jayakris]

And it is a 4th title in a row for Vihaan, today. 63 64 win over the top seed Pratyaksh XXX. Make it 21 straight wins (16 of them in straight sets) to start his junior career. 21-0 record, 120 points and a ranking inside top-525 already for the 13 year old, the top ranked 13 year old in the world.

Yeah, that is Pratyaksh's last name. It has been so at the ITF site now for weeks and months. Somebody go correct it to the right name, please. or is his name really XXX?

But Vihaan is not the only one starting impressing everybody. 15 year old Qualifer Sree Syleswari Velmanikandan beat the 5th seed Harithasree, 4th seed Priyanka Rana (USA), 1st seed Asmi Adklar (who is also AITA #1 in u16), and then 3rd seed Amodini Naik to take the title. Only Asmi was able to take even a set off her. This is only her second ITF juniors and Sreesyleswari is 7-1 to start her career. She has only played one round at the Madurai J5 a year ago. She must be a seriously good player to do this. We have some players emerging!

I wonder if it is financial issues stopping Sreesyleswari from playing more events. AITA should step in. Or somebody (we can!). Hope to hear more about her situation...

[sameerph]

And it is a 4th title in a row for Vihaan, today. 63 64 win over the top seed Pratyaksh XXX. Make it 21 straight wins (16 of them in straight sets) to start his junior career. 21-0 record, 120 points and a ranking inside top-525 already for the 13 year old, the top ranked 13 year old in the world.

He also won the doubles title this week which will further boost his ranking a bit.

Quite incredible what this kid has done. Never seen any Indian win 4 titles in 4 weeks at any level. And this kid has done it at 13 where everyone else is at least 16 year old. AITA should really do everything necessary to retain this kid with India and than nurture him.

[jayakris]

I think Prakash or Somdev (or both) did three weeks at a stretch, but I don't think anybody has done four. Actually maybe Prakash did it in the 4 weeks satellite circuit. Somdev's may have been 3 weeks of challengers. Or maybe my mind is making it all up. Will need to check ITF activity records to be sure.

But a 13 year old doing it against all these guys 2 or 3 years older than him is quite something.

I didn't even check doubles, thinking they would not be as reckless as to let him play doubles also. My God, the parents need to really go to the Madurai Meenakshi temple and give thanks for the Devi watching over the kid and keeping him physically safe. This was too much. Give the kid a break please. Don't over do this please!

[VReddy]

I didn't even check doubles, thinking they would not be as reckless as to let him play doubles also. My God, the parents need to really go to the Madurai Meenakshi temple and give thanks for the Devi watching over the kid and keeping him physically safe. This was too much. Give the kid a break please. Don't over do this please!

Vihaan’s father explained that he did not want the boy to compete in the hot and humid conditions of Madurai. But Vihaan wanted to play as he had agreed to continue playing the ITF circuit in India, after two tournaments, instead of going back to the US for the Easter Bowl under-14 event in Indian Wells, as originally planned.

“One tournament was no compensation for missing Indian Wells. So I wanted to play the last in Madurai also. I had committed to play doubles with Samarth two weeks earlier, and did not want to disappoint him”, said Vihaan.

Article from Kamesh Srinivasan sir - https://sportstar.thehindu.com/tennis/v ... 695113.ece