Indians in US College Tennis

[Omkara]

When are the 2 scheduled to leave college, I know Sanam has 3 more years, what about Jeevan?

Vivek I guess, is not into college tennis. It will interesting how these 3 do in the circuit.

[jayakris]

Both Sanam and Jeevan are in their second year. I think both will be in college for at least one more year after this. So the earliest they will come out is 2010 summer, after three years of college.

Sanam turned 21 last month and Jeeven turned 20 last October. Both had sort of wasted a year each, being part of that AITA program to sign up and manage players (Sanam,Vivek,Jeevan were the three) which strictly prohibited playing in US college. I think their contracts required them to pay back money if they went to US college, as I was told - but I don't know if AITA relaxed that later or anything. I think AITA had good intentions but we knew that they were not the ones to support and manage these three talented players. They were of course wrong that going to US college was a bad thing. That was because there was this outdated canard that some people were going around talking in India that going to US would make these guys lose focus - not knowing that there hasn't been a single talented player who went to college and got worse and only the so-so players lost focus .... Anyway, luckily two got out without too much delay ...

Jay

[sameerph]

I think Sanam & Jeevan will surely finish at least 3 years in their college career. Or they may even go one more year if they decide to follow Somdev.

In terms of junior achievements, both Sanam & Jeevan were a bit ahead of Somdev . But in college tennis so far, they are much behind where Somdev was at this time of his college career.IIRC, Somdev was already in top 10 rankings in the middle of his second year.

Both are different positions in their respective teams . Sanam is a part of strong team whlle Jeevan is in relatively much weaker team. It is likely that Jeevan will mostly play at no. 1 position for hsi team while Sanam will play mostly no. 2 or 3 . So, Jeevan will get more opprtunities to play quality players.
Let see how they continue to progress this year whihc will be crucial in their devlopment.

Found an intresting interview of Jeevan on University of Washington site -

http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-tenn ... 09aaa.html

[Peter]

College tennis online has a fresh new feel.

[jayakris]

Sameer, actually, though Somdev had a much better freshman year than Jeevan and Sanam (reaching top-15 by the middle of the season), he had a pretty ordinary sophomore year. His ranking actually fell noticeably too. Then, rather suddenly, he went all the way to the final in the NCAAs at the end of the secon year. After that he pretty much wouldn't lose through the next two years.

Jay

[Peter]

The ITA Div 1 Women's team championships are on in Madison starting tomorrow. Anyone coming?

Was at the courts yesterday, and saw a few teams practicing. They are getting younger every year Did not see anyone of Indian origin yet. i've got to say that the women's game is more graceful, much slower* and more human (they do make ufe's).

* The collegiate men's game is quite a slug-fest.

[sameerph]

Two more good wins for Jeevan over the weekend -

bt. Marcos Verdasco (University of Oregon ) 62 62
bt. #33 Rudolf Siwy ( Fresno State) 62 75

9-1 since January now with 4 wins over top 50 players.

[sameerph]

In the latest collegiate ranking, three Indian boys are ranked in top 35.

Sanam Singh (UVA) is ranked 23 , Saketh Myneni ( University of Alabama) is ranked 32 & Jeevan Nenducheziyan ( University of Washington) is ranked 33.

Since January, Sanam is 17-1 with wins over nos. 63,79,25,78 & loss to no.68.

Saketh is 9-7 since Jan with wins over nos. 121,39,17,9,108,38 & losses to nos. 12,19,31,47,7.

Jeevan is 13-2 since Jan with wins nos. 71,94,38,55,16 & losses to nos. 8,27.

Sanam & Jeevan seem to have more success but surprisingly, Saketh Myneni ( not heard much about him earlier ) seems to have got to play most no. of competitive matches & also has some pretty good wins incuding one over top 10 player.

[jayakris]

Update on what sameer posted a month back.

Sanam Singh (UVA) is ranked 24 , Saketh Myneni ( University of Alabama) is ranked 22 & Jeevan Nenducheziyan ( University of Washington) is ranked 40.

Since January, Sanam is 24-2 with wins over nos. 75,73,33,74,94,104,54,59 & loss to nos. 83,57. Unfinished matches- 31,37,54

Saketh is 15-10 since Jan with wins over nos. 109,46,14,6,95,26,106,11,51,34,21 & losses to nos. 88,10,23,115,16,31,8,5,8,21. Unfinished matches - 25,63

Jeevan is 16-3 since Jan with wins nos. 78,69,26,61,88,81,18,62 & losses to nos. 9,35,63.

Clearly Saketh has come up strong lately. Though he did not make much noise in India as a junior, he has really made use of college tennis, coming up to the #1 spot by his third year at a very good university, Alabama, ranked #13 now. He is a tall guy, something like 6-3 and does seem to have potential to do well in the pros too. Look out for him.

It is VERY disappointing that Jeevan has not had a chance to play anybody good this year. He is not going to improve as a player if he does not even get to play any top-25 caliber player. As far as I can see, this sophomore year has been a waste for him. Hope he gets to play the #1 spot next year, but I am not sure if he is ready for that.

Jeevan has had a much better chance to play a lot more good players thus year, and is better poised for his junior year next year - but his college program is probably not as good in player development (on reputation) as U.Va.

Anyway, it is very rare to see three Indians in the college top-40. Hope they ill all be in the top-10 next year. That would be fun.

Jay

[arjun2761]

These college rankings are borderline non-sensical. Apparently, you get a very high ranking based on how many good guys you have beaten -- the losses matter very little.

You can see that Saketh has lost a whole lot more (he is 15-10 basically losing almost every other match) than Sanam and has a better ranking simply because he has more quality wins. If Sanam played #1 for UVa, he would easily be in the top 10 already. In fact, even Jeevan may actually be better than Saketh, he has just not played the same schedule.

PS-Lesson for college goers (as far as college ranking inflation) -- play for one of the worst teams in a relatively strong conference. That way, it will be lot easier to play at #1 position and get a lot a more quality opponents.

[kna]

In the NCAA men's tournament, Sanam is playing #2 singles for Virginia, Jeevan is #1 for Washington and Saketh Myneni #1 for Alabama.

The regionals start at 16 venues on May 8th. The championships (for the final 16 teams) start May 14th at Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas).

Sanam, Jeevan and Saketh have also been selected for the singles tournament that starts on May 20th (after the team championships end).

Sanam is also in the doubles with Houston Barrick.

[kna]

Sanam is in the PQF of the men's singles. He will face J.P. Smith of Tennessee, who lost to Somdev in the finals last year.

Sanam beat C. Muller of Rice 6-3, 6-1 in the round of 64, and Dimitar Kutrovsky of Texas 6-2, 6-0 in the round of 32.

Jeevan lost to Brett Helgeson of Notre Dame 6-3, 4-6, 0-6 in the round of 64.

Saketh Myneni lost to Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech 2-6, 4-6 in the round of 64.

[crosscourtwinner]

I believe Tara Iyer and her college have become champions in their category. Does anyone has full details?

[kna]

Duke did win the title on the women's side. Tara was on the roster but did not play a match. She was listed at #7 for singles and was not in the doubles lineup. Per NCAA rules, someone outside the top six can only play if one of the top six get injured. I did see a photo of the Duke team with the trophy and Tara was in it.

[crosscourtwinner]

Thanks kna! Even I was wondering if Tara played. If I am not wrong, she is yet to play a match after the injury lay-off.