Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

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sameerph
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by sameerph »

RamK is now in top 150 for the first time in his career, being ranked exactly 150 in today's ranking. I hope he gets a big run in one the US challengers in next 2-3 weeks to take him higher.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by knarayen »

Yes lets hope he can push through to at least 1 challenger win in the next few weeks. It will get him ready for Aus open qualies. Pune open coming up too,
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by knarayen »

I think shooting for Main draw entry for AO is a good thing - however I still think he needs to try the qualies route for 2018 until he is a more solid low 100s type player...my sense is he is not there yet but close.

On the other hand, for Pune Open - if he does well in that it could be a morale booster for the rest of the year.

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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by prasen9 »

Take every match one at a time and try to win it. That's all I want :-)
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by sameerph »

Despite not doing well of late, RamK keeps moving up in the rankings. :D He is at a new career high of 146 this week.

Sad that he could not capitalise on this period in last couple of months where he had no points to defend. He pulled of this week's Shenzhen challenger. It looks like finally he is taking a few weeks off. After playing qualies at Antwerp ATP, he will have almost 4 weeks off till Pune challenger it seems. I only hope it is to work on something in his game and not due to any injury.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Mohit Dahiya 2345 »

Well it may sound very rude but what Ramkumar’s future of breaking top 100 looks very bleak with that backhand he can do well once in a while at challenger level but in order to have a real shot to break into top 100 he should really work on that damn backhand
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by knarayen »

Mohit Dahiya 2345 wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:06 pm Well it may sound very rude but what Ramkumar’s future of breaking top 100 looks very bleak with that backhand he can do well once in a while at challenger level but in order to have a real shot to break into top 100 he should really work on that damn backhand
This has been a real problem for players from India - once they get hooked on the slice backhand to win some easy points, they cant get away from it. It becomes like an addiction and an easy way out - to hit over the ball like a Wawrinka or Gasquet or Federer does takes much more hard work, early preparation, and frankly outstanding footwork. It becomes even more apparent once you work on your two-handed backhand to make it a more effective weapon. We had a similar problem with Nandan Bal in the late 70's early 80's - all he had was a career-limiting slice backhand which could be exploited by higher-ranked players. I tell my students that a slice should only be used very rarely, as a change-up, and players from India have a lot of difficulty with this basic strategy. Luckily we have Yuki and Saketh who seem to have overcome this issue but they have other issues that appear to be career-limiting as well. I notice that Sumit Nagal also has a more promising all-court game - very promising in my view.

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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by sameerph »

After last week's final at Pune Challenger, RamK is at a new career high of 139 this week. This is a nice article on him -

Talented Ramkumar Ramanathan shows temperament for bigger battles in standout season
It is significant that Ramkumar has racked up these results in a year that he parted ways with long-time benefactor Karti Chidambaram of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association. Left to fend for himself in the brutal world of professional tennis, the 23-year-old seems to have emerged on the other side stronger and more responsible.
It is news to me that Karti or TNTA are no longer funding him. That makes his achievements this year all the more notable.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by jayakris »

^^ RamK is a survivor, and the guy has gone through a lot. I can never forget those days when we followed him criss-crossing Spain and picking up some 10 first round losses in a row or whatever as a 16 year old, literally in tears after some matches and all that. I have so much respect for the guy for surviving all that and getting to where he has got to. Yes, he got support and I am sure he is so thankful for that, but he was also put through hell. But I guess that is what makes a kid into a man, in the tough tennis circuit. All the best for RamK, whatever course charts for himself, without TNTA input. I liked this in the article -
He hasn't quite yet cracked the winners' circle at the level, losing all the three Challenger finals he made this season. Making that leap is an important piece in the puzzle, and it may well start with strengthening the backhand.. “I’ve been trying to hit it,” says Ramkumar, who almost as a default setting starts running around his backhand when the pressure is turned on. “I am still slicing more, but I have been working a lot on it and I need that one month of training in the off-season to get in shape again. You really have to do the off-season. If I stay back in Chennai, there's no way I am going to start well (in 2018). It's always tough to keep it up and go to higher. But I think I can do it.”
Good thinking. Work on that BH, RamK. You can do it!!!!
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by Omkara »

Its so easy to judge what 16-20 year old guy does on court, forgetting how wasted one might have been in ones personal life in the same phase.

Keep working hard RamK.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by suresh »

Nice to hear from RamK and even nicer to hear that he is trying to get away from slicing on the backhand side.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by PKBasu »

The break with TNTA/Karti seems to have been more than adequately compensated by a strengthening of his ties to Emilio Sanchez and the Sanchez-Casals academy. I presume that's where he will go to train in the off-season.

There is no doubt that even his backhand has improved this year -- without which he couldn't have achieved the improved results that he has actually achieved all year long, and especially since May-June this year.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by sameerph »

Yes, it looks like they have an academy in Florida now where he trained before Pune week and will probably train there in off-season.

I am not quite sure if they are also providing some funding as TNTA used to do but he may be financially well off to be able to do that without TNTA help. The prize money he earned this year ( $109K) would have somewhat helped too.
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by bujilover »

Ramk's next schedule looks like:

Feb 5 - $100K+H San Francisco ATP CH (MD)
Feb 12 - New York Open ATP 250 (QD)

Hopefully will continue and play the Delray Beach Open Q the following week (and this would mean he will skip the Chennai CH).

The SF Challenger is titled as "Kunal Patel San Francisco Open". Read the story on here at the bottom of the page. Kunal's father, Mukesh Patel is one of the founders of this tournament that was introduced on the CH circuit only last year.

Quoted from the website : "Mukesh is a serial entrepreneur and an investor in IT industry based in San Francisco Silicon Valley. He is active in helping startups and funded numerous charity organizations. He enjoys photography, golf, tennis and family travels."

Do you guys think Mukesh can help any of our up and coming players (or even Vishnu-Balaji) financially?
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Re: Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

Post by prasen9 »

sameerph wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:37 am The prize money he earned this year ( $109K) would have somewhat helped too.
I don't know how much of this he would have saved after all the travel they have to do at short notice, taxes, paying for other expenses, etc. Does not seem a lot would be saved that he could then invest in training. (I know you said "somewhat".)
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