Prajnesh Gunneswaran thread

[gbelday]

A pretty in-depth interview with Prajnesh’s dad from a few days ago. Thanks to Vishnu for reaching out to him. He seems like a very pragmatic person and I love his responses. It’s long but hoping some our juniors and their parents can benefit from it. This is also posted on the Bridge.

https://indiantennisdaily.com/2019/02/0 ... nneswaran/

[Sin Hombre]

Didn't realize Prajnesh came from an extremely well to do family.

Only makes you wonder where Yuki (and others in Indian tennis) would have been if he had that luxury.

[sameerph]

Excellent interview, Vishnu. Prajnesh is really lucky to have such parents which allowed him to persue his dream and eventually succeed in his late 20's.

His is an interesting case in our college vs. pros debate too. He is the one who quite US college tennis route after just a few months and has been fairly successful as pro. How would his career shaped if he had spent 3-4 years in college? Difficult to say but good that ultimately he found success after such large struggle and will finally break into top 100 of ATP singles ranking ( a dream of every tennis player) by next Monday.

[Atithee]

Didn't realize Prajnesh came from an extremely well to do family.

Only makes you wonder where Yuki (and others in Indian tennis) would have been if he had that luxury.

In my view, Yuki did not suffer because of lack of resources or support. His suffering is largely his own doing.

[jayakris]

Only makes you wonder where Yuki (and others in Indian tennis) would have been if he had that luxury.

In my view, Yuki did not suffer because of lack of resources or support. His suffering is largely his own doing.

Some due to his own doing (mostly on scheduling), but you can't overlook his bad luck with injuries. I am always reminded of a line from the great old U.of.Texas football coach Darrel Royal about injuries - "one guy missed games with a broken nose. How do you get a nose in shape not to be broken?"... Injuries are often just bad luck that you cannot pin on the player, as long as he has been doing his best. All indications are that Yuki has never been goofing off, and has been working hard. He has been unlucky too...

[Atithee]

The question was lack of resources and support for Yuki and not his luck. He had plenty.

[RohitG]

Well if we're doing a comparison in Prajnesh's thread, let's not forget that he lost 5 years of his prime due to injuries too. Lack of sponsors and injuries is a pan Indian thing. I think Yuki's family is well to do as well. It's not a middle class thing to send, not 1 or 2, but 3 kids into tennis.

[gbelday]

I don’t think either of them lacked resources (like a few of our other talented players). Getting more support is always good.

Both Yuki and Prajnesh suffered a lot of injuries. I just feel that Prajnesh’s took control and worked with the right people to strengthen his body. Yuki on the other hand didn’t. Koon attested to that in his interview. Prajnesh’s dad, Neha Uberoi and so many others that we spoke to talked about how important it is for junior players to prepare their bodies. Being successful in juniors doesn’t really translate to success on the men’s or women’s tour solely for this reason. Our kids are not strong enough to handle the repetitive and pounding nature of the sport. Tennis is probably the toughest sport out there..

Yuki still has time and I have faith that Koon can get him up there. I am however not too sure of how committed Yuki is though. A week or a couple of weeks won’t really help. He’s got to be training really hard for an extended period (year or so) and mix it in with tournaments. Yuki’s planning hasn’t always been that good..

[knarayen]

A pretty in-depth interview with Prajnesh’s dad from a few days ago. Thanks to Vishnu for reaching out to him. He seems like a very pragmatic person and I love his responses. It’s long but hoping some our juniors and their parents can benefit from it. This is also posted on the Bridge.

https://indiantennisdaily.com/2019/02/0 ... nneswaran/

Wow what a wonderful interview. Hats off to the gunner’s parents and family for encouraging him to pursue his dream!! It is important to recognise that the drive came from the gunner himself, his parents didn’t need to push him. And the KSLTA tennis academy provided the right level of support - I’m very happy and encouraged to see the support extended by Mr Sunder Raju.

Prof

[Sin Hombre]

Didn't Yuki return from injury prematurely late last year just to get some first round prize money? Doesn't sound like someone with the resources of Prajnesh who could sit out for years to fix his injuries properly.

[PKBasu]

Yuki is from a typical middle-class Indian family -- salary-earning professional parents, who aren't particularly well-off. Similar to Karan Rastogi's parents, who were also middle-class (his dad Rahul, IIRC, was a UCO Bank officer). That is why Yuki's family decided not to fully push Ankita and Sanaa's pro careers, and concentrate on Yuki's (since he was the most talented, the only one of the three talented kids who was ranked #1-3 in his age group worldwide for several years in his adolescence and teens).

[sameerph]

So, Prajnesh is now officially into top 100 for the first time in his career being ranked #97 in the ATP rankings which came out today.

With no points to defend till 22nd April, he has made the cut for French open main draw already. He has 140 points to defend from mid to end April. So, he will have earn at least about 120 of those to stay in top 100 for making Wimbledon main draw cut-off. I really hope he wins of the 2 Bangkok challengers in next 2 weeks. That will go a long way in making this happen.

[arjun2761]

Congrats to Prajnesh on a monumental achievement in Indian tennis to crack the top 100! Hopefully, he can stay there for the next couple of years and he looks quite focused on doing what is necessary to do so....

[vparam]

Is Prajnesh planning to play in the Dubai qualies this weekend?

[sameerph]

Is Prajnesh planning to play in the Dubai qualies this weekend?

No. He is not. He did not enter there and even if he had he would have had to withdraw as he is still playing in Bangkok challenger.