Manas Dhamne thread

[jaydeep]

looks special one.

[PKBasu]

Manas is now the world #1 in the under-14 UTR rankings, so he is continuing his progress. The next two years are crucial to his development.

[PKBasu]

13-year-old Manas is currently ranked 620 among juniors, and is playing in Kathmandu (a junior Grade 4 tournament) this week. He has come through 3 rounds of qualifying, and will be playing a local player in R1.

It is quite amazing that he didn't receive wildcards into the main draw in the two tournaments he played in New Delhi and Gurugram last month. So he played 3 qualifying matches, and 3 main draw rounds in New Delhi, losing the QF to Nishant Dabas (a 17-year-old ranked 123 among juniors now). Then he played 3 qualifying rounds and four main draw rounds in Gurugram, beating 17-year-old Nikhil Niranjan (USA, 247J) in the QF, before again losing to Nishant Dabas (but this time in the SF). Playing 6 and 7 matches in a week -- these tournaments at home are running our phenom ragged, but he is playing at a very high level (much better than someone ranked only 620).

Manas and his 16 year old partner Lotlikar made the doubles final in New Delhi, losing to Nishant Dabas and Aman Dahiya. Then he and his 13-year-old Nepali partner Aarav Hada lost to Dabas/Dahiya in the QF in Gurugram. Nishant Dabas has been Manas's bane for the past two weeks

[sameerph]

This is a nice article on Manas by Kamesh in sportsstar-

Manas Dhamne: Ready to take on the world

[PKBasu]

I like the fact that Manas Dhamne says that his ambition is to win a Slam. (I would be even happier if he said Grand Slam, even inadvertently..!).

Yesterday, he made the final of the under-18 National Championship, beating a fellow under-14 player (who is about a year older), Rushil Khosla, who looks a very impressive left-hander.

In the under-18 final in Indore today, Manas lost 64 26 67(3) to a 17-year-old, Sandesh Kurale.

Ramesh Krishnan won the National under-16 title when he was 13 (beating his 2-years older cousin Shankar in the final; the latter began to fade thereafter). Leander Paes did the same (win under-16 nationals at 13). But I don't think either of them made the under-18 final when they were 13. Both Ramesh and Leander won the National (non-junior) title when they were 16 -- respectively beating Jaykumar Royappa and (if I remember right) Nandan Bal respectively. Royappa was ranked around 200 in the pro ranks then. Nandan Bal never made it to top-300.

(After watching highlights of the semifinal, I am tempted to start a thread for Rushil Khosla, but will await more evidence of his ability and performances... ).

[Rajiv]

Ramesh Krishnan won the National under-16 title when he was 13 (beating his 2-years older cousin Shankar in the final; the latter began to fade thereafter). Leander Paes did the same (win under-16 nationals at 13). But I don't think either of them made the under-18 final when they were 13. Both Ramesh and Leander won the National (non-junior) title when they were 16 -- respectively beating Jaykumar Royappa and (if I remember right) Nandan Bal respectively. Royappa was ranked around 200 in the pro ranks then. Nandan Bal never made it to top-300.

Add Sunil Kumar Sipeya to that list who won the Sr National's in 1999 aged 16 years.

[PKBasu]

Thanks for that reminder Rajiv. Sunil Kumar Sipaeya was a searing talent who never quite realized his potential. And sadly by the late-1990s, the senior Nationals had ceased to be the high-quality event it was in the 1970s. Even when Ramesh won the title, the real India numbers 1 to 4 (Vijay and Anand, Sashi Menon and Jasjit Singh) weren't participating.
The junior Nationals, though, are still meaningful markers, particularly the age group competitions.

[sameerph]

This is nice article on Manas-

Pune’s Manas Dhamne takes runner-up trophy at national junior tennis championship

[PKBasu]

It has been a frustrating year for Manas Dhamne, like for so many other Indian tennis players. Still 13, his junior ranking has dropped 100 points to 680, but he just qualified into a J1 (junior Grade 1) tournament this week, beating a 16-year-old ranked 304 in the final qualifying round, but then losing 3 and 1 to a Chinese 16 year old ranked 235.

[sameerph]

Excellent work by Manas this week as he won J2 title at Chandigarh. He had to come thru qualifying and won 10 matches without losing a set which shows his dominance. All this when he is just 14 years of age.

With this title, Manas will move somewhere just inside top 130 in the ITF junior rankings.

If he can get a good result next week in Kolkata J2 and/or in 2-3 other tounaments in February/March, he can play junior slams this year itself.

[PKBasu]

Fabulous week for Manas, to have entered as world #421 in juniors, played a full 3 rounds of qualifiers and 7 rounds in the main draw (including a victory in R1 over the 17 year old India #1 junior, Aman Dahiya) -- winning all 10 matches in straight sets, ending up in the top-130 in the world. And all this just a fortnight after he turned 14 (on 29 December 2021).

Remember, he won the Eddie Herr tournament for under-12s in December 2019, establishing himself as the best under-12 player in the world, which led me to start this thread. This week, he has come of age as a junior (under-18), and we can expect him to play junior Wimbledon and junior US Open this year. Perhaps also the junior French Open.

He should start mixing in a few Futures tournaments later in the year. He will be able to gain automatic entry into some of those based on his junior ranking now.

[jaydeep]

Really exciting week for Manas for winning J2 title in a young age.

[knarayen]

Really exciting week for Manas for winning J2 title in a young age.

Do we have any physical stats on Manas - height mainly - this is going to be crucial. Exciting to see a new talent emerge

[arjun2761]

I suppose at 14 years, he should still have 1-3 years of good growth ahead although some kids stop growing earlier than others....

[sameerph]

Really exciting week for Manas for winning J2 title in a young age.

Do we have any physical stats on Manas - height mainly - this is going to be crucial. Exciting to see a new talent emerge

Do not have his exact details but from the photos from his last week title win he appears quite tall for a 14 year old.

https://www.theindiapost.com/sports-2/m ... es-titles/