Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

[suresh]

[Q3] Amerigo CONTINI (ITA) (16) defeated Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) (2) 6-4 6-2

Sadly, Ramkumar didn't get the LL spot that opened up. I don't think he will need to play qualies next time.

[jaydeep]

Lost in doubles also ...

At $10K Spain F24, Elche

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Alex BOLT (AUS) l Joep DIETEREN (NED)/ Roberto RODRIGUEZ-ALONSO (ESP) 36 36

[sameerph]

Ramkumar had beaten the same guy easily a couple of weeks back on hard courts. So, probably the Italian is stonger on clay. Anyway, this is the first time in many months that Ramkumar has lost a match against a lower ranked opponent. So, something may not have worked this time.

Sadly, Ramkumar didn't get the LL spot that opened up. I don't think he will need to play qualies next time.

That is not a certainity considering how tough fields are in some of the futures in Europe ( specially in Spain) . For instance , next week again he will have to play qualies where cut at the moment appears at 700+ which is quite high for $10K futures. Needs to notch up some 9-10 points more in next few weeks-months to get his ranking upto inside 750 which will make sure he does not have to play qualies.

[sameerph]

Ramkumar did get in as a lucky loser but lost in first round .

At $10K Spain F24, Elche

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,927) l. (WC) Albert ALCARAZ IVORRA (ESP,1578) 46 46

Lost an opportunity to win more ATP points. So, not so good week for him.

[jaydeep]

At $10K Spain F25 Futures 2011, Gandia (clay)

[Q1] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Ho Hin PAK (HKG,UNR) 62 60
[Q2] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Emilio SANCHIS-HERNANDEZ (ESP,UNR) 64 26 63

[Q3] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs Jean-Marc WERNER (GER,1727)

[sameerph]

This week again Ramkumar lost in the final qualifying round. So, it seems he is going thru a bit of rough phase in last couple of weeks.

At $10K Spain F25 Futures 2011, Gandia (clay)

[Q3] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,933) l. Jean-Marc WERNER (GER,1727) 36 61 36

[Omkara]

Still highly commedable. He had been loosing in the last qualifying round for quite some before he had breakthrough couple of weeks. He will do well again for sure. I hope he gets the LL spot.

I am really enjoying following Ramkumar's exploits in Spain!

[jayakris]

I still say that staying completely away from the junior circuit is a mistake. Mixing juniors and pros is what he should do. Jay

[Omkara]

I still say that staying completely away from the junior circuit is a mistake. Mixing juniors and pros is what he should do. Jay

Difficult to contrdict that, but given his success it needs to be seen whether he plays a few Junior events, GS may be. Just one question Jay, Suni Sipaeya won the Nationals at age of 16 and even had a great 1st round match at the Chennai Open. Did he give Juniors a miss post his initial success? Or am I getting the age wrong?

[jayakris]

Sunil played all the way through his eligibility in the juniors. It was in his final year at age 17 that he went 3 rounds in singles at the Wimbledon juniors. Actually playing pros is much more financially taxing, as there is no accommodation/food provided at the events and it costs some $400 a week in most places, minimum. The junior events usually give accommodation/food for main draw players and that is an advantage. In Sunil's days, he used to be paid for by LP's Paes En Sport for junior trips. Soon after, especially during the Sunil Yajaman days when he tracked down every good player and pushed/prodded them (thanklessly) to go to foreign tours etc, the AITA used to do something. They used to come up with some funds to send our junior as a group, with even a coach/manager, to the junior "series events" like the Asian swing in March-April for the grade-1 events and then the US hardcourt swing in August (even a grasscourt trip in June to UK/Germany). AITA seems to not do that much anymore, and some state associations (TNTA, KSLTA, MSLTA etc) have taken "ownership" of their kids and they send their kids abroad.

The state associations seem to have some deals with a few academies here and there and the kids generally seem to play only the pro events and not junior events. How well the academies develop the kids, or whether they are taking the states' money and getting their contats in India and setting up summer camps and all the other business items, is anybody's guess. None of this really works much, at least based on past results, in my opinion. I prefer the AITA getting back into it and helping the kids with air tickets to go to some junior swings. They would do that only if the kids show interest in doing that too, though. If the states tell the kids not to go to the AITA side ("look at all those players AITA ruined!" is an easy line too), then there are no kids and it gets easy for AITA to do nothing! ..

Only those in the top-100 or 150 can realistically make it into the decent junior event "serieses". To compare with the pro events and get proper tough matches, you need to be in grade-1 and better events and go up against top-75 type players. But if the top kids have low ranking because they are with the state teams at academies and pro events, then AITA does not have a team to send to juniors either; so they are limited in what they can do too and may be even happy in not having to do anything!

The whole thing is a MESS right now, if you ask me. I think individuals in state associations are having fun setting up their contacts with foreign academies and pushing their own agendas, with the kids getting caught in the middle in all this. AITA sits tight in Delhi, probably with excuses not to do anything too. No coordination or proper advice on developing the kids. That is all seriously affecting our junior program.

Hopefully some of these kids like Ramkumar will break out the hard way with pro events alone, thugh I have hardly seen that hapen in the past. It is no fun to lose to bigger/stronger players (even if ranked below 1000) on a weekly basis and hardly get matches where you can play pressure-free and improve on things you want to work on. If you must win every match and go 5 matches under pressure to get each ATP point, that is not a way to develop a kid. You need to mix in some easier junior matches and get enough tough matches in later rounds against top-50 type players in those events too. More importantly, the junior tour lets you experience different court surfaces, climates, etc, while those doing pro events need to stick to events near the academies for expense reasons. A big part of development in encountering different types of players and conditions around the world, is lost. I think pro events is what you should go to, every now and then, to check out your improvement while playing the junior circuit. It's not the place to improve your game, even though many would say the easy line that you will get better from playing tougher players. Rather, you get confused and lose heart, is what I would say

Ramkumar does seem a bit different though. He is playing hard and fighting in these losses. At least if you are not getting shellacked, you may be learning and improving. Best of luck to him in his plans. I hope it works, though it leaves me nervous about the risky srategy.

Jay

[knarayen]

Ramkumar does seem a bit different though. He is playing hard and fighting in these losses. At least if you are not getting shellacked, you may be learning and improving. Best of luck to him in his plans. I hope it works, though it leaves me nervous about the risky strategy.

Jay

Jay...well written. And I admire his courage in getting out there as a junior and taking this heat at such an early age. I would say that this shows extreme motivation and guts....if he is good enough to get into the main draw in some of the futures even now, then if lucky stuff happens for him and he gets noticed by some really good coach, then who knows, he may improve dramatically.

I am willing to pitch in some of my own personal money to get him some paid training with Gil Reyes at UNLV. Jay, if you have any ideas on how to do this, or want to get this started, I'll be among the first to sign up.

Prof

[sameerph]

I did some digging & found that Ramkumar is in fact the youngest player in top 1000 of mens rankings. There are only 3 1994 born players in the top 1000 but 2 others who are ahead of Ramkumar, Britain's Liam Broady & France's Mathias Bourue are at least few months older than Ramkumar.

It could be possible that some of the 94 born players have not played too much on pro circuit. Still, it is quite clear that Ramkumar is at least among top 5-10 players of his age in the world.

To draw a parellel, had a look at where Yuki Bhambri ( who was one of the top juniors in the world) was at simiar age - Ramkumar's age of 16 years ,8 months . Yuki was ranked outside 1000 around that time but then made quick progress in next few months to break into top 500 within a month of his 17th birthday & then, went on to win multiple futures in the same year ( 2009).

However, Yuki played most of his tournaments at that time at home while Ramkumar is playing only outside India. ( mostly on clay in Europe.) . Still, how he does in say next 6-8 months will probably show what his potential is. Hopefully, he will also play some of the easier tournaments at home or ( in Asia) during that period.

if he is good enough to get into the main draw in some of the futures even now, then if lucky stuff happens for him and he gets noticed by some really good coach, then who knows, he may improve dramatically.
Prof

He could be Ok on coaching front as he is training in Sanchez Casal academey in Spain which has produced some of the top Spanish players.

In terms of playing juniors, as I said eariler the best channce for him is to get into top 550 in next few months which will give him direct entry into junior slams next year. It may not be worthwhile going thru the grind of playing lower level junior events to gain ITF junior ranking when he has gone so much ahead.

[vk2052]

actually, Spain is known for this . Their players normally prefer playing pro events. The fact is he is based there and it appears, he has no financial issues. So, I think, he is better off playing pro events, there. It seems to me that he is from a well to do family or has a solid sponsor. If thats so- he is at the right place and can come up next couple of years.

I think under the circumstances, he will not play junior events and will focus only on pro circuit. NOt a bad idea.

[munnabhai]

Yea I agree with you VK, he probably is getting advice from his Spanish coaches. I don't see any issues with him playing in the pro circuit so much, as long as he is comfortable and learning. I hope he is taking care of himself or someone is taking care of him because he is still 16 years old and the world is a harsh place for a kid that age. Win or lose, you have to commend his courage.

[dipankardeb]

Is he playing the spanish F26? I do not see him in the Q draw. So did he make the main draw? or is he skipping this week?