Kyra Shroff

[rajorshi]

She was hailed as the next Sania Mirza and was given a WC in a WTA event at the age of 14. Though she could not live upto to the expectations in the juniors, Kyra has shown this week that she has it in her what it takes to perform at the big stage. For the 1st time since perhaps Isha Lakhani, an Indian woman (apart from Sania) has managed to beat a top 300 player [Zuzana Luknarova (SVK,261)] and went on to reach the semis of a $25k event. Congrats Kyra! keep the good work going!

EDIT: Don't think she has won an ITF singles event but her run in Bangalore has been quite exceptional. Hence this exception for this talented 19 year old!

[sameerph]

Yes, she deserved a thread of her own. Reaching SF of a $25K event is in fact a better achievement than winning some of the weaker $10K tournaments in India & we have had threads for the players who have done that. Hope Kyra goes strength to strength from here & give some good news for womens tennis which has looked dead in the past 3-4 years barring Sania Mirza.

[jayakris]

Waited for a long time for her to do something like what she did this week. Hope she goes from strength to strength from now onwards and makes this thread very busy! Jay

[vidhyashankar]

Here are the results of that Semifinal run for Kyra :

At $25K ITF Bangalore:(19-24 March 2012)

[R1] (WC)Kyra Shroff (IND,888) d. (3)Zuzana Luknarova (SVK,261) 63 63
[R2] (WC)Kyra Shroff (IND,888) d. Nicole Clerico (ITA,526) 63 63
[QF] (WC)Kyra Shroff (IND,888) d. (Q) Nungnadda WANNASUK (THA,598) 63 64
[SF] (WC)Kyra Shroff (IND,888) l. Donna VEKIC (CRO,390) 16 67(4)

[rajorshi]

Didn't know where exactly to post this. Mods, Can we have a thread exclusively for posting pics and videos? And should it come up in the General Tennis Discussion section? It becomes quite a chore to find pics once a thread falls into disuse.

Bdw this is a pic of Kyra on her fb page after winning the National Grass Court Tennis Championship, last year.

[vk2052]

read an article some where. Kyra is one of the four girls short listed by AITA to partner sania in the olympics. One of the girls is going to thank sania for the entire life. all the best.

[rajorshi]

Looks like Kyra is the favourite to partner Sania in the Olympics. I would have preferred Rutuja though.

Kyra Shroff keen to partner Sania in Olympics

[sameerph]

As expected Kyra moves more than 200 places to a career high of 627 & is new India no.2 behind Sania. Hope she keep climbing up the rankings.

[vk2052]

I fully appreciate what Kyra has done recently. But isn's it shocking that our no 2 in ranked in 600. Every one expected that sania's achievements would revolutionize indian women tennis. But , in fact, it has actually gone down. Earler we had bhabhri sisters, isha, rushmi, tara iyer etc. Now kyra is no 2 at 600 plus.

[jayakris]

Kyra is a much better player than to be ranked in the 600s, if she pays to her abilities like she did recently. If she keeps it up, I think she won't be below 500 for too long, though I don't know if she will turn to a top-200 player like we would like to see.

But you are right about what the hole our women's tennis has fallen to, in the last 5-6 years. If you had told me such a pathetic future some 7 years back, I might have seriously looked around to buy some cyanide -- but we all gradually accepted over the last few years where we were going. Hope things will improve later though.

Jay

[rajorshi]

Jay, it wasn't so bleak even 2 yrs back when we had Pooja on the verge of breaking into top 300. Last year even the 30+ Rushmi was No2 for a while, then ranked in 500s. During those WTA events that we had till 2008, there were about 4 or 5 girls in top 450- Ankita, Isha, Tara, Rushmi.... I am not even talking about Shikha or Sunitha here as some may argue that they are not strictly Indians. And I refuse to believe that there weren't anyone good enough after the Bhambris or Lakhani. The girls were also ahead of the boys in those days. Don't know why it came to this. Tired of asking. Its a situation like '' Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, its awful'' !!!

[jayakris]

Poojashree was pretty much the only one of much promise since that earlier group some 7 years back, but there were also some indications that she too probably did not have the consistency (and may be the proverbial "fire in the belly" also?) to turn into a real top-200 player that we needed. A couple of others including Kyra gave hopes here and there but no huge stories or breakthrouhs early enough. Basically at least top-20 or even solid top-40 type junior results were needed for real hope, and that never really happened. Hope it all changes with the Rutujas and Ratnikas out there now, and I hope Kyra makes her push too. Jay

[sameerph]

As Jay said we need to see early talent in girls like they have to hit ITF juniors top 50 when they are 15-16 . That is a sure indication that the players have top 200 potential . None of those from the current group of players had shown those type of results ( not even Poojashree who made top 50 in juniors only when she was close to 18). There are late bloomers but they are too rare among girls. In men, we do have players who even spend 4 years in college & still can come back & make it to top 100. These things do not happen on girls side where you have to hit top 300-250 or so before 20. Else, it becomes impossible to break thru. So, in that sense likes of Kyra have to make a break very soon.

Rutuja is one who has now come close to top 50 in ITF juniors while she is still not 16. So, there is some hope there.

[rajorshi]

Rutuja turned 16 on March 27, I think.
So we have 3 Rs here- Ru, Ra and Ri (Rishika)!
But I do hope that Pooja will come back. Don't want another Tara Iyer.
Bdw Sameer, I don't think juniors matters so much. Sanam and Jeevan had been top 5 and top 20 in the juniors but have only showed some results in the ITF events in India, lately. Also I think Sanaa was a top 50 junior player but couldn't do much in the pro circuit.

[jayakris]

Juniors matters a lot. In fact nothing else really indicates talent as well as junior rankings of those who played serious junior tennis. Probably more so on the girls' side than on the guys' side. Top-50 is not enough. Top-20 or top-30 at least. That usually means beating a god number of top-60 type players in the juniors (say around 5 or so such wins at least). None of our girls have had it. Anyway, we have had a lot of discussion on this topic, rajorshi. You will find in many threads earlier. Sameer had also posted a bunch of stats on where the juniors from India and elsewhere have reached later, comparing it with their junior ranks etc. Only abunch of people in India who do not look carefullya t the numbers say that juniors don't matter. It matters trmendously.

Of course, the two main things to keep in mind are where their rankings are at around July-August timeframe (not early in the year), and the fact that the junior ranking is against roughly 1//6th to 1/15th of the players in comparison to the number of players they are ranked against in the seniors (ie., a junior top-20 probably is at best of top-175 quality in the seniors, and a junior top-50 is probably capable of reaching say a top-400 or so. Some do a bit better, and some a bit worse, but generally that is what it is). Notice also that top players tend to play longer in the seniors and stay at top ranks, which means a #8 junior rank probably doesn't indicate top-80, but may be top-150, while a #25 in the juniors probably says a top-240 possibility and a #50 probably inidcates top-400 potential. It is quite complicated and you have to observe for several years to get a sense of how to take somebody's junior ranks. Whom they beat in the juniors and also at what age, are also important. Arjun Khade on the boys side has a decent junior rank, but at an older junior age, and he has fewer top-60 wins (may be 1 or 2?) than one needs to show, for us to say that he has say a top-300 potential later. Those with big serves, especially from India, tends to have a slower development curve. That is also to take into account.... It all depends. But juniors certainly matters. All Indian kids should take junuiors seriously for other reasons as well - i.e., improving their game, not just the ranking.

Jay