Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

[jayakris]

Nirmal Shekar ofcourse was a rare breed.
But the seeds of Tennis Patronage were sown by the Kasturi family which started the magazine "Sports and Pastime" in the 1940's which later morphed into "SportsStar" , and N Ram a member of the Kasturi family firmly strengthened that tradition further and encouraged and supported the likes of Nirmal Shekar in Tennis , S. Thaygarajan in Hockey.

It is true that The Hindu has had some great sports writers, but the one who deserves mention in tennis is Kamesh Srinivasan and not Nirmal Sekhar. Nirmal was a good writer but I used to hate him for going to tennis events and covering everybody else from the center court, but the Indian payers who were in the qualies, or in doubles, playing in the outer courts. He would wax poetic about the Beckers and Samprases, for which I always had better writers from abroad than him. I wanted news on Indians, but Nirmal couldn't care less. If Kamesh was there, I knew we would get the right news.

[Sin Hombre]

Someone on mtf made a comment that Ram could do very well on indoor, what do the resident experts think?

[arjun2761]

He would do well on an indoor grass court. Don't see any other advantage from playing indoors which typically favors finesse players (as you can pick your spots with more precision with little wind resistance) and arguably power players can generate even more power in the controlled indoor conditions. Don't see RamK in either of those 2 categories.

[sameerph]

RamK is at a new career high singles ranking of 111 now.

Unfortunately he lost in the qualifying at Washington this week and will lose 10 points gained from it last year in next week's rankings. He has another 61 points in August from good run in Cincinnati last year.

He won't be playing Cincinnati this year. But, looks like he will be playing in 2 challengers in China and Korea in next 2 weeks before the Asian games- $150K in Jinan,China next week and $50K(+H) in Gwanju,Korea the week after. On the current ranking, looks like he will be the top seed at both the tournaments. If he can earn big points there, he can defend his last year's points. Then, he does not have too many points to defend this year and couple of good runs can take him to top 100 by end of the year.

[VReddy]

RamK is at a new career high singles ranking of 111 now.

Unfortunately he lost in the qualifying at Washington this week and will lose 10 points gained from it last year in next week's rankings. He has another 61 points in August from good run in Cincinnati last year.

He won't be playing Cincinnati this year. But, looks like he will be playing in 2 challengers in China and Korea in next 2 weeks before the Asian games- $150K in Jinan,China next week and $50K(+H) in Gwanju,Korea the week after. On the current ranking, looks like he will be the top seed at both the tournaments. If he can earn big points there, he can defend his last year's points. Then, he does not have too many points to defend this year and couple of good runs can take him to top 100 by end of the year.

Asian Games might be blessing in disguise. I think he serve / volley approach should likely be fine in Asia and relatively lower-quality opponents. Hoping for the best!

[knarayen]

Someone on mtf made a comment that Ram could do very well on indoor, what do the resident experts think?

Indoor does favor the good serve/volley player, but even more important is the need to seriously improve on the returns. I played a lot of indoor tournaments during my playing days after i came to the US and during the cold winter months. For preparation, i took lessons from a coach who fed me bullets from no-mans-land into the players box and taught me to read early, commit to a specific side as late as possible, and return aggressively with an abbreviated swing. I normally play single-handed, and my training included switching to two hands with an abbreviated swing for a sharp cross court return on the backhand. I teach my students to do this now. Bhupathi's dad was especially deadly with these returns which he taught to his son. The shortened swing also applies to the forehand. RamK's backswings on the returns on either side are way too big, except when he simply blocks it back. That's where he needs some dedicated learning.

I wonder now if Bhupathi can teach Ram that return - but then one needs a willing student who is seriously interested in continuous improvement - when i was very young i read what Rod Laver said on this topic and it stuck deep in my head and never left - to this day i follow this advice on and off the court.

Prof

[jayakris]

Great comments, Prof. He could also hire Harsh Mankad for a few sessions. That guy was excellent indoors, as he had to play in cold Minnesota for 4 years. He was also a college indoors nationals champion that made him the NCAA #1 for a brief period too.

[Rajiv]

A straight sets win 6-3,7-6 for Ram to start the proceedings at the Mallorca Open.
A stern test awaits in the R2 which in all probability would be James Ward of Great Britain who won the big 150k Challenger in Jinan couple of weeks back where Ram incidentally was the top seed.

[jaydeep]

RamK is facing talented 18 yrs. old Nicola Kuhn in the second round, who defeated James Ward in three tie-breaks.
In the doubles, RamK lost with Altuna against the 3rd seeds.

At $50K+H Rafa Nadal Open 2018, Mallorca, Spain

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,134) bt (Q) Enzo Couacaud (FRA,560) 63 76(3)

[R2] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,134) vs (WC) Nicola Kuhn (ESP,380)

Doubles
[R1] Tuna Altuna (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (3) Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP) 36 26

This kid, Nicola Kuhn, looks talented, stumble upon 3 yrs. old interesting article on him.

Tennis sensation Nicola Kuhn is 15, blond, superfit - and simply the best

Nico's roots are fascinatingly complex. Born in Austria, his family moved to the Costa Blanca when he was three months old. His father, Alfred, is German, mum Rita (from whom he inherited his blond complexion) is Russian and they live in a predominantly British urbanisation at Torrevieja. Nico speaks Spanish, German, English and Russian fluently...and if you push him regarding his nationality, he will concede quietly that he feels more Spanish than anything.

[jaydeep]

RamK lost in three sets against talented 18 yrs. old Nicola Kuhn in the second round ... The only break in the match came in the third set in favour of Kuhn.

At $50K+H Rafa Nadal Open 2018, Mallorca, Spain

[R2] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,134) l (WC) Nicola Kuhn (ESP,380) 76(4) 67(2) 46

[jaydeep]

RamK is facing a qualifier in the first round.

At $75K Sevilla Challenger 2018, Spain

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,134) vs Qualifier

[PKBasu]

So Ramkumar is playing a Challenger, while Yuki is flying to Serbia to participate in the Davis Cup "camp" rather than play the Chicago Challenger...

[Prashant]

So Ramkumar is playing a Challenger, while Yuki is flying to Serbia to participate in the Davis Cup "camp" rather than play the Chicago Challenger...

Incomprehensible & utterly stupid.

[Rajiv]

Ram plays 261 ranked L Grigelis of Lithuania in the opening round

[arjun2761]

So Ramkumar is playing a Challenger, while Yuki is flying to Serbia to participate in the Davis Cup "camp" rather than play the Chicago Challenger...

Incomprehensible & utterly stupid.

I won't blame this on the camp. Yuki has entered and withdrawn from multiple events prior to the US Open. I am not entirely sure that he is fit to play in the Davis Cup...