Rohan Belday thread

[PKBasu]

I'm breaking all the rules here, but there is enough interest in this son of TennisIndia.org to start a separate thread for him. Playing in the J5 in Tirana, Albania, 14 year old Rohan (ranked 2571 among juniors) is through to the quarterfinal:

[R1] Q-Rohan Belday (USA) d. W-Ante Cikovic (CRO) 62 62
[R2] Q-Rohan Belday (USA, 2571J) d. 5-Santiago Padilla Cote (MEX, 1403J) 62 62

Next up, a quarterfinal against 4-Louie Fletcher (GBR, 1079J). The second seed is an NRI called Aman Sharma (USA) who lost to a Brit called Keegan in R2 yesterday.

[jaydeep]

Thanks PKB for starting this thread ... I will move all Rohan's related posts here from Indian Origin Players thread.

[jayakris]

I'm breaking all the rules here, but there is enough interest in this son of TennisIndia.org to start a separate thread for him.

We all know that we have never managed to stop you from breaking the rules, PKB ... But on this one, we were going to encourage you to, anyway. Better for one of you to break the rules and for the mods to use our discretion to look the other way, than for us mods to break our rules!

Wish Rohan all the best!

[prasen9]

Go Rohan!

[suresh]

Seedings at this level don't mean much. Go Rohan!

[PKBasu]

Thanks PKB for starting this thread ... I will move all Rohan's related posts here from Indian Origin Players thread.

Jaydeep, let them be there. We are starting Rohan Belday's page with his first ITF tournament, so this marks a clean break onto a different stage -- after years of development and effort by Gautam and team.

[PKBasu]

14 year old Rohan Belday and his 15 year old partner Daniel Kong lost in the doubles QF to a Macedonian pair 3 years older than them (17 and 18 year olds) and seeded 2nd.
In the singles QF, four of the 8 are 14 years old.

[gbelday]

Oh PKB, only you can do this This is premature if you ask me but quite an honor!

Rohan lost the singles quarters today to Louie Fletcher (UK) 6-2 6-2. He said he was a very physical player and Rohan was always on the back foot defending. He could not play his usual agressive style of tennis. It was a 2 hr match. It's all the more important to work on physicality for the next year or so before he can truly compete with some of the 16/17 year old players. The body is tired too. He came through the qualies in both tournaments and it takes another 2 weeks or so for the points to reflect and hopefully won't have to play qualies in a J5 going forward.

They are off to Montenegro tomorrow. The Covid test results came back negative (for everyone in the group) and they are heading for the back to back J4 and J5. Going to be tough transitioning from hard courts to red clay but this trip was about getting some points and also learning what it takes to be on the tour.

[sameerph]

We do not mind a premature thread if it concerns son of one the long time Tennis India member. And most of the premature threads opened by PKB ( e.g Yuki) have turned out to be long ones. So, hopefully this is a good omen for Rohan.

[Omkara]

Great step for this group. To cheer someone among us is indeed a pleasure. All the very best!

[prasen9]

Great job, Rohan. Gautam, thank you so much for providing us with the update and the "color commentary".

[Rajiv]

Congratulations, Gautam.

[Varma]

A 6-2,6-2 match going for 2 hours got to be something. At this age in boys, the physical aspect between 14 and 17 is huge. I am glad Rohan started this young so he can gain a lot of experience. Can't wait to see him reach greater heights!

- Varma

[punarayan]

Gautam, Congratulations on the progress of your son's tennis. It is quite a feat for a 14 year old to play tournaments abroad. It is a pity we could not meet this year at the US Open, but there is always next year. Best wishes to Rohan in his tennis journey.

[jayakris]

And most of the premature threads opened by PKB ( e.g Yuki) have turned out to be long ones.

Good point. It is not always even at the start of the careers. I remember a premature thread about some great man retiring from some sport, that went on for a while too