Rutuja Bhosale thread

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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by ajay »

Thanks Jay. :Offtopic:
There are two types of advice he is getting: 1) Are you ready to go to 6th st? 2) avoid 6th street. I hope he follows the second one.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by PKBasu »

Could you two worthies please explain these inside jokes?! :-)

Aggies vs Longhorns, from what I can gather. (Texas A&M vs UT-Austin?)
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by Prashant »

I've lived & worked in Houston for four years now, and I'd describe it as more like the Aggie cult vs the Longhorn cult. There's a fair amount of mutual mockery, scorn, and derision. Much of it is good-natured, some of it isn't. As a neutral, it is often entertaining to goad the more die-hard specimens of either persuasion.

Sixth street is where all the college bars & clubs are in Austin, so you avoid it if you're staying on the straight & narrow. Or, if you're an adult.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by Peter »

Slightly OT. Ratnika Batra has committed to Texas (Longhorns). This is quite a coup for Ratnika.

PS: And yes, Texas is maniacal on (American) Football and Cheerleading. The idiocy always brings a smile on me.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by sameerph »

Thanks, Peter on that news. I was wondering where Ratnika had disappeared after a decent junior career. So, both RB's are going to Texas although on rival warring teams. :D

Interesting that 3 of the most promising women players to emerge in last few years, Rutuja, Ratnika & Kanika have all taken the US college route. Their eventual success in pros or lack of it will give direction to others if this is the right route to to take on womens side. It has proved successful so far for a lot of Indian men but not so much on womens side.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by Omkara »

They will emerge better players for certain. Will they pursue their career post college days is a big question mark....
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by jayakris »

It's good for all three of them. Even if they do not make it big in the pros when they return, the time spent there will only make them more mature and into more well-rounded players. Also better coaches later too, if they take that path. I am glad to hear of them going to the US. Jay
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by sameerph »

Omkara wrote:They will emerge better players for certain. Will they pursue their career post college days is a big question mark....
That is what I really fear on womens side. On mens side, a lot of them - Harsh, Prakash, Mahesh, Somdev, Sanam, Saketh , Jeevan ( even some of the less successful ones like Rohan Gajjar etc.) have all at least tried their hand to succeed at pro level after their college days. If I recall correctly, most of the Indian girls who have taken the college tennis route never came back to persue pro tennis - starting with Uzma Khan ( although I am not 100% sure about her), then the likes of Sanaa Bhambri, Sandhya Nagaraj & many others in recent times. Perhaps, they find that it is too late at 22 or 23 to start on WTA tour.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by jayakris »

Uzma had other issues in life, from what I had heard and never played even college tennis all that seriously. Manisha Malhotra came back and had a decent career for a period and then became a really good sports manager. Shikha Uberoi did fine too. Sanaa and Sandhya joined college quite late, at least a couple of years later than these girls -- and may be we should've guessed the writing on the wall.

But yes, it's uncertain what the girls would do after college tennis. I don't think college tennis is really what will take them out of tennis later though. Most of the ones who didn't stay with tennis probably would have done so anyway, and perhaps even earlier, had they not gone to college. So, let them at least get the education and a different world view from the US college experience. There really isn't much downside.

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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by PKBasu »

Sanaa Bhambri went to a graduate program (to do an MBA), so she had really already decided to pursue another career outside tennis. Joining as an undergraduate (like Kanika and Rutuja) is a deliberate attempt to improve the tennis game -- while also getting an education. They will have options, including a realistic chance of becoming tennis pros.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by Prashant »

It is my perception that far fewer top women emerge from the NCAA ranks as compared to the men - across nationalities. I am struggling to think of even one top 50 woman who had a good NCAA career. I think this is because the top women mature so much earlier. If you're not crushing it at the age of 18, you're probably not doing so four years later. On the men's side however, they seem to hit their prime more like mid-twenties, so college can be a great seasoning en route.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by PKBasu »

Historically very true true Prashant. But the game does seem to be changing now, with fewer teenagers surging to the top (as teens) on either the men's or women's side. Li Na, for instance, matured at around 25. So there should be a bit more of a window for college players to make it now, including on the women's side.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by jayakris »

True that college tennis has hardly produced many top-50 or top-100 pro players (mostly because by 18 we seem to have get a pretty good idea of whether a girl is going to make top-100 -- and like PKB said, it *may be* changing a bit now).

But anyway, though not top-50 types, college tennis has indeed produced quite a few top-200 type pro players. We have had only TWO women players from India (Nirupama and Sania) in the last 25 years to get to event top-200. So, for Indian players, college may indeed be a good chance to prepare themselves to be in the top-200 or top-150 which has only very rarely been done by Indians preparing themselves through the domestic system.

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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by PKBasu »

The only woman pro I can recall as a former college player was Gigi Fernandez, who played one year for Clemson, made the NCAA singles final, and then turned pro immediately thereafter. Of course, like many NCAA stars, she became a doubles specialist over time.
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Re: Rutuja Bhosale thread

Post by sameerph »

As I had posted in Kanika's thread eariler, currently there are 5 players in top 200 who had gone to US college circuit although none in top 100. So, I am sure over the years many from the college tennis who would have gone into top 200.
PKBasu wrote:Historically very true true Prashant. But the game does seem to be changing now, with fewer teenagers surging to the top (as teens) on either the men's or women's side. Li Na, for instance, matured at around 25. So there should be a bit more of a window for college players to make it now, including on the women's side.
Very true, PKB. Just cheked on the age profiles of top 100 ranked WTA players & the average age is now 24.65 . As many as 14 players in top 100 are above 30 years while there are only 11 players are below 20 years.

So, even if Rutuja / Kanika / Ratnika hit pros at 21 they still have sufficient time to make it on pro tour, if not top 100 at least top 200.

I guess a lot will depend on how they actually do in college tennis. If they hit top 5 or top 10 in college by year 3 or even year 4, they would be encouraged to try their hand in pros at least for a few years. If they languish behind even in college rankings after that, they may not even give a try to pros.
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