Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

[Prashant]

Prasen, Kujo lists the two major ways in which the game was slowed down - balls are slower than they used to be in 2005-2006, and both major non-clay surfaces have slowed down. The US Open surface plays slower than it used to five years ago (they use a different coating on the surface which has a higher coefficient of restitution, making the ball bounce slower & higher). Wimbledon either chose to or was pushed to plant a difference species of grass, again with the aim of slower & higher bounces. I believe this grass was put in the year that Nadal beat Federer in that epic final, but it might have been the following year.

It is noteworthy that the last 5-10 years have seen the dominance of the French & Spanish developed players on the men's tour - I am attributing this partly to the slowing of the game, and partly to different coaching philosophy & methods. I like that RR has followed that route because it has produced different results than the US academies.

Aside - Kujo I agree with your sentiment on the game, that it should not be tweaked any further. This is a golden age.

[v george]

All great players are developed by great teachers. Spain has top players because they have skilled coaches who knows current tennis & their players in and out. I had a chance in Barcelona to discuss coaching with Alberto Costa, Spain's Davis cup captain. Not only that he was very humble and I was impressed by his knowledge of modern coaching.
TNTA and Govt. of India should spend resources to develop their coaches to the world class level and beyond. Then only kids like RRs can be developed to their full potential.
Coaching is not just hitting & drilling with some ex-players to develop reflex shots.

[bujilover]

RamK is back in action.He initially didnt enter Spain F34 futures but somehow playing in Qualifying.He is the top seed in qualies and got aBYE in R1. Ramk get some points.

[Omkara]

top seed RamK lost to DE LORENZO-ARACAMA, Ander (ESP) 6-2, 7-6(7) in Q2

[bujilover]

RamK will be playing in Morocco(F8,F9) $15K tournament for 2 weeks starting from Oct-10.Good choice to play in Morocco where he will get direct main draw acceptance.

[knarayen]

I think RamK is doing the best thing possible given the state of men's tennis today.

Men's tennis today is based on a strong baseline game with the capability to transition to and from the net at will, with punishing volleying, and high quality serving with the capability to ramp up the serve at critical moments. This is the game being played on the European circuit, and dominating the ATP tour now, and clay court tennis is based a lot on positioning, which requires superior physical fitness and running capabilities. If Sanchez is building these things into RamK's game, then I feel that this is the best thing. RamK could do a lot worse, like play NCAA tennis for example. I don't think NCAA is great preparation for the ATP tour, but European-based training most certainly is. Times have changed, and the US is falling behind - way behind - in coaching methods for their players.

I feel that Somdev may have lost something when he played NCAA tennis. I know, this is going to get me some bad comments, and he may have won some confidence and kudos there, but it delayed his improvements on the ATP tour and he could have been another Ferrer, but he clearly is not today. He may never be, because he cant transition and counterpunch like Ferrer can - he cant position play like he can either. These things have to be learned early in one's career. Granted Somdev can hang with the best of them counterpunchers - but heck he is hitting his limits now.

Prof

[jayakris]

Who am I to disagree with Prof, but disagree I must... And quickly. Totally, furthermore. College was THE best thing Somdev could have done AT THAT TIME. Had he been sent to Europe at age 14 or 15, that would be a different thing. At around 18 when he finally started showing some spark with an ITF title in Kolkata, it was all too late. Had he just hit the pro circuit then, with hardly any financial support from anywhere, it could have become a disaster (unless SKD himself somehow found a way to get better even then, as he is smart enough). He was not at all a talked about player in 2003, to get support either. Karan was. SKD, had you seen him play then, was hardly impressive, to boot. No great serve, a knee that refused to bend, and no great stroke-making to catch anyone's eye. He needed a place where he could get better using his own internal desire, drive and ability to work hard. He would not have got it anywhere cheaply at that time. Had he hit the pro circuit and wasted week after week, he would not have got anywhere. So, in HIS case alone, AT THAT TIME, there was no question that NCAA was the best option. So, I disagree, completely and wholeheartedly, with Prof, on this

There would be nothing wrong in what RamK is doing, if he were a bit more at the European academy than week after week on the circuit, and even better, had he mixed in just 6 or 7 weeks of junior tennis from last year, for grand slam and different country/ surface/ player/ conditions (variety) experience. My criticism of what he is asked to do, has ONLY been to that extent. No criticism at all in his being in Europe, or not considering college etc. Those are not issues, in my mind. If there is money support, what he decided is the way to go - except for what I consider to be extremely skewed and (in my view) unproductive scheduling by his spanish and chennai advisors.

Jay

[Atithee]

For the record, I also disagree 100% with KNarayen but this is not a "bad" comment. He has his opinion and others have their opinions. There is room for both and merit in each.

[knarayen]

Who am I to disagree with Prof, but disagree I must... And quickly. Totally, furthermore. College was THE best thing Somdev could have done AT THAT TIME. Had he been sent to Europe at age 14 or 15, that would be a different thing. At around 18 when he finally started showing some spark with an ITF title in Kolkata, it was all too late. Had he just hit the pro circuit then, with hardly any financial support from anywhere, it could have become a disaster (unless SKD himself somehow found a way to get better even then, as he is smart enough). He was not at all a talked about player in 2003, to get support either. Karan was. SKD, had you seen him play then, was hardly impressive, to boot. No great serve, a knee that refused to bend, and no great stroke-making to catch anyone's eye. He needed a place where he could get better using his own internal desire, drive and ability to work hard. He would not have got it anywhere cheaply at that time. Had he hit the pro circuit and wasted week after week, he would not have got anywhere. So, in HIS case alone, AT THAT TIME, there was no question that NCAA was the best option. So, I disagree, completely and wholeheartedly, with Prof, on this

There would be nothing wrong in what RamK is doing, if he were a bit more at the European academy than week after week on the circuit, and even better, had he mixed in just 6 or 7 weeks of junior tennis from last year, for grand slam and different country/ surface/ player/ conditions (variety) experience. My criticism of what he is asked to do, has ONLY been to that extent. No criticism at all in his being in Europe, or not considering college etc. Those are not issues, in my mind. If there is money support, what he decided is the way to go - except for what I consider to be extremely skewed and (in my view) unproductive scheduling by his spanish and chennai advisors.

Jay

I could be completely wrong too..no way am I some Omniscient!! ha ha. .

So I'm willing to accept that I may be completely wrong with respect to Somdev. I agree that RamK tournament scheduling may leave much to be desired. He does need variety of surfaces...he needs a lot more time with coaches who teach him positional play. A one-dimensional approach on clay will hurt him to no end.

My sincere wish is that RamK keeps improving, getting better and better with age and does not plateau out. I would like him and Somdev to carry India to new heights in Davis Cup with very few injuries. . After all, my old friend Chandra has got him started. I need to circle back with Chandra and get his insights as well.

Prof

[bujilover]

At SPAIN $10K F37 Futures

RamK lost in the final round of qualies being seeded 6th in 3 sets to 16th set Spaniard.He is through to second round doubles though.

Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) (6) defeated Mauro TETE (ARG) 6-0 6-4
Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) (6) defeated Sandro VIAENE PIERAS (ESP) 6-3 6-1
Eduard ESTEVE LOBATO (ESP) (16) defeated Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) (6) 6-3 6-7(5) 6-0


Doubles:

R1: RAMANATHAN (IND) / WERNER (GER) defeated GIRALDI REQUENA (ESP) / MUNOZ-ABREU (ESP) 6-4 6-2

[sameerph]

RamK is trying qualifying again this week in Spain.

At $15K Spain F38 , Sabadell ( clay)

[R1] (9) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,922) d. Joep DIETEREN (NED,1636) 6-1 6-0
[R2] (9) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,922) d. Matthieu VIERIN (ITA,1885) 6-2 4-6 6-2

Next ,

[Q3] (9) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,922) v. (5) Jean-Marc WERNER (GER,809)

Werner seems a tough player. As a qualifier he went on to reach a futures final in Spain last month. He also beat RamK in the last match they played in July. These Spanish futures are so tough even to get thru qualifiers.

[sameerph]

At $15K Spain F38 , Sabadell ( clay)

[Q3] (9) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,922) l. (5) Jean-Marc WERNER (GER,809) 16 26


So, again no main draw for him.

[jaydeep]

Tough loss against in-form player ... Need one of lucky break to avoid qualifying.

[bujilover]

Belated birthday wishes to RamK who turned 17 yesterday Have a great career ahead Ram,and dont worry about ur loss ,You have 3 more tournaments and many more years to come.

[munnabhai]

^ I agree with the work ditcher.

Happy belated birthday RamK!