Manas Dhamne thread

[jayakris]

Thanks for the welcome and my son's name is Pranav Karthik

Ah, nice! Pranav is one of the 2 or 3 juniors that we are all keeping an eye on. Do let us know when he is on tour if any of us can help. As for me, anybody who comes to Southern California, I can help with accommodation and taking them to events. Had done that with Harsh, Fazal, Karan, Somdev, Purav, etc in the past. There are also others here who can help with such things at some other places, so feel free to ask for it, as you plan the tours for Pranav.

[vgan]

Thanks for the welcome and my son's name is Pranav Karthik

Ah, nice! Pranav is one of the 2 or 3 juniors that we are all keeping an eye on. Do let us know when he is on tour if any of us can help. As for me, anybody who comes to Southern California, I can help with accommodation and taking them to events. Had done that with Harsh, Fazal, Karan, Somdev, Purav, etc in the past. There are also others here who can help with such things at some other places, so feel free to ask for it, as you plan the tours for Pranav.

Thanks for your kind words and thanks so so much for the offer and we do have some plans possibly next year if everything goes fine. Will reach out to you!!

[sameerph]

Yes, these are Europeans/South American who have played a lot more at this level than Manas. Still expected somewhat better scoreline.

Manas may probably need to come to Asia or go to Africa to play some easier tournaments to get some winning confidence back. Maybe will come down for Asian juniors which is his home city Pune in 3 weeks time.

Manas is indeed playing at Asia Oceania juniors in Pune next week where he will be seeded. I also see him in initial entry list for J1 in Malaysia starting from October. So, good to see him playing in Asia finally. His academy is not making him play only tough tournaments.

[sameerph]

As put in the tournament thread, Manas became the youngest to win the Asia Oceania Tennis championships last week in Pune at 14 years and 9 months. He is now ranked #82 in ITF junior rankings. He is only 1 of the 2 2007 born players who are ranked inside top 100, Mrava from Czech Republic being the other ranked 97th. There are 46 players born in 2004 ranked above him who will get out of the rankings at the end of the year. That means he is 38th among those players who will be eligible for juniors next year. So, he is pretty much assured of playing his first grand slam main draw at Australian open 2023 even if he does not play any more tournaments this year. Of course, I expect him to play a few more tournaments and bring that ranking further up.

[sameerph]

Manas has posted videos on his twitter handle about getting to practice with Herbert Hurkacz-

[Atithee]

To my untrained eye, most Indian players serve motion seems to have a weird landing. Manas seems no exception. Has anyone else noticed that? This is a habit that’s very hard to break.

[jayakris]

Things are still not working out for Manas against good players outside India... At the J1 in Sanxenxo, Spain, he was the 6th seed but went down in the first round 46 75 46 to a qualifier, 15 year old Darwin Branch (USA,190). Good fight, but let us tap the brakes a bit on Manas. He still has some ways to go. He is very young though.

[sameerph]

The American kid had a higher UTR than Manas and had reached the final of Orange Bowl under 14 last year and also played and won a round at USO juniors last year . So, I would say Manas running him close is nota bad thing.

[jayakris]

^^^ Thanks for checking on the opponent. That makes me feel better. Manas has been running into some good players at these events. That is good. The scoreline was not bad either, in the loss.

[sameerph]

Manas played his first tournament after a couple of months as he played in Tunisia M15 based on his junior exempt spot. He lost in first round though against Croatian qualifier Luka Mikrut 26 46. Mikrut is 18 year old ranked 1344 and was ranked in top 40 in ITF juniors early this year and reached QF as a qualifier in futures here last week. So, he has a lot more experience than Manas at this level and proved too good for him.

Manas is in next week's entry list too.

[jayakris]

^^^ Oh, I didn't even check the event, not expecting any Indian. But nothing escapes your eagle eye, sameer

Frankly, Manas is in a bit of a slump. Has not won anything in a while (EDIT: He has only played 2 or 3 matches since the Pune Asian junior title in August though). I guess these are usually periods that junior players go through, as they adjust their game and get better. Glad that he is out there playing. Getting match experience, win or lose, is what is important. Looking forward to seeing how he does at the AO juniors next month.

[jayakris]

Manas is again a junior exempt entry at the M15 in Monastir, Tunisia, this week. He plays qualifier Mehdi Sadaoui (FRA,1107) in the R1 tomorrow (Wednesday)

[jayakris]

No fireworks from Manas, who is in "some sort of a slump" like I said above. He lost to qualifier Mehdi Sadaoui (FRA,1107), 26 36, at the Monsatir M15. But it was not a useless match, as he gave some good fight to the French guy, forcing 8 break points and converting 2 of them. But he also faced 13 BPs and got broken 5 times in a 1 hr 42 min match with nearly 120 played points. So the scoreline is a bit deceptive and it was not a quick loss which would be a waste of time for a 15 year old junior exempt player. It is the kind of long-enough match at the pro level that young kids can learn a lot from.

[sameerph]

Yes, I hope he is learning from these losses. But, he does seem to be in a bit of a slump. Hope he comes out of it very soon. I expect him to get a singles wild card for qualies at Pune ATP. There is noone from MSLTA good in singles and they have already wasted lot of wild cards on Arjun. So, mostly they will give one to Manas this time. Maybe too early for him but usually they do give at least 1 ( either main draw or qualies) to a local player .

[RameshG]

Hello, this is a message to "vgan". I came to know that Pranav is training at Spain with Jofre. Appreciate if you are able to share your preferable contact. I would like to get some insight before I plan for my son in the same academy. Thanks a lot in advance. I can be contacted on whatsapp +65 97318195.