Rohan Belday thread

[gbelday]

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.

Thank you all for your support and I want to say blessings! Yes, I missed the US Open so much this year. I was hoping to cover some of the matches and interview our players just like last year (thanks to ITD). Narayan, the boys still remember the ice cream that you treated them to

I know we talk a lot about physicality and fitness etc. but the more I observe, the more I think it's the most important aspect that our juniors ignore growing up. That's one of the reasons that the transition from juniors to the mens tour is so difficult for our boys. It may be a bit less important for the girls where the difference is less compared to their foreign counterparts but it does play a huge part.

Just to finish the thread on the Albania J5s, Alex Frusina won the singles and doubles in the J5 Tirana. He is from Houston and is one of the boys that is traveling with Rohan's group for these series of tournaments. He is just a month older than Rohan but this kid is extremely fit and strong for his age. His fitness coach (from Barcelona) is also traveling with them and has helped Rohan tremendously during this trip.

Anyway, sorry to bore you all with some of the details but I have no one else to talk to (other than my wife of course), haha.

[PKBasu]

Gautam, please keep the details coming. They are fascinating, and give us all a privileged ringside view of Rohan Belday's budding career.

[prasen9]

Anyway, sorry to bore you all with some of the details but I have no one else to talk to (other than my wife of course), haha.

Typical modesty. We are hungry for details here. Everyone is a sports nut. Keep it coming. Good luck to Rohan.

[jaydeep]

Hey Gautam, please keep this coming ... Really interesting to read, and as PKB mentioned give us a first-hand privileged ringside view of Rohan's budding career.

[sameerph]

True, we get first hand account of struggle and rise of a young tennis player first hand from someone from this forum. Keep it going, Gautam.

[gbelday]

Thanks all for your support. I'll post when there is anything significant to share or if I need to bounce off ideas and get your advice (on training, scheduling etc.).

Just to finish up the update on the Europe trip, Rohan had a tough time in the last two tournaments on red clay in Montenegro. The field was quite strong and the conditions were a lot tougher (rain interruptions, windy etc.). The conditions in the first two weeks in Tirana were lot familiar (hot, hard courts etc.). Montenegro was his first time playing on red clay and it was a very good learning experience. He lost in the qualies in the J4 and in the first round in the J5 but he was up against some strong serving kids. There's quite a bit to work on. Based on the feedback from the coaches, the serve, backhand, transition game, and agility/footwork are decent. The two areas that need to improve are forehand and physical strength.

Overall, it was a very good trip for him. I feel like he grew up a few years when I speak to him these days The goal was to get some points and get a ranking which would help him to get into tournaments closer to home going forward. He is at 1680 after these four tournaments.

It's back to training after the 14 day quarantine period (suggested by NY and NJ). He will resume training at Lizel Huber's academy in NY from Oct 23. The USTA coaching staff in NY moved to Lizel's academy after USTA shut down the Player Development program in NY. Lizel is great and is very hands on and Christina Mchale and Kristie Ahn will also be training there as part of the program that is overseen by the head coach, Jay Devashetty.

Thank you all! More later...

[PKBasu]

Great start to his international career. He now has a ranking (1742J) at age 14, so he is on his way. Immediate goal has to be top-1000 among juniors, which I think he will automatically reach once he has played a few more tournaments. That he had to start his ITF career in the year of Covid is a difficult aspect of the backdrop. Glad to know he will be coached by Lizel Huber, a good friend of India from her time as a partner to Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi.

[VReddy]

Rohan reached the finals at the Grade V event in Islamabad this week. He also won his first ITF title by playing doubles with Alexander Karman. Rohan lost in singles final to the Pakistan Davis Cupper Muhammad Shoaib, who had debuted against Ramkumar Ramanathan in Kazakhstan.

[jaydeep]

Wow, good performance by Rohan ... Thanks Vishnu for sharing this on the forum.

[suresh]

Congratulations to Rohan Belday on a great showing. Thanks Vishnu for sharing the news.

[PKBasu]

Congrats to Rohan for a terrific tournament in Islamabad. In the early rounds he was winning every set either 6-0 or 6-1, and double-bagelled his QF opponent. He won his SF against a Pakistani 14-year-old 63 62, before losing to the 18-year-old Pakistani Davis Cupper 64 36 26 in the final. Great progress for 14-year-old Rohan to make the final of a Grade 5 ITF junior tournament.

[VReddy]

Can't verify if its accurate but as per this tweet - Rohan is the first 2006 boy to reach ITF final:

[prasen9]

Fantastic news! Making us all so proud.

[sameerph]

Great performance by Rohan. Also gutsy of him to travel to Pakistan in current times. Curious that ITF junior tournaments are happening in Pakistan but nothing at all in India.

[Kumar]

Rohan, Congratulations!