Sanaa Bhambri thread... (Joins the forum! Hooray!)

[Rishav]

hi,
I though why not open up her thread. When virendra sehwag had gone to meet her, all the press attention was on him and later i came to know that he was giving it to her cos of her french open semis. Disgusting!

[Dhruv]

Hey Sanaa, there is already a thread for you started by Rishav. Didn't realise that

[Rishav]

hi,


Hey Sanaa, there is already a thread for you started by Rishav. Didn't realise that [/quote]

whaddaya mean by that? What didn't u realise? I mean i like the way she plays and thought that she was being ignored by everyone here!

[nkoth]

I'm gathering from his post that Sanaa was wondering if she had a personalized forum or not -- always nice to see the players keeping tabs on us too!

-neil

[Rishav]

we can only guess until he replies. Although i am sure that most of the players must be visiting our forums- this being BY FAR the best onwe on indian tennis.

[vishnureddy]

^ What happ to Rishav , he doesn't post anymore:(

Sports Ministry to sponsor Sanaa's training expenses

Good to see someone finally supporting one of the Bhambris . Hope her stinct with Brett (?) raises her game by a notch.

[PKBasu]

With Sanaa making the final of the Futures in Indore, it's especially appropriate to revive her thread now...

[amr090]

I think Sanaa is another potential talent....if she is 2 years younger than Sania that means shes only 17 years old! People need to train her and get her going in the game as well!

I wonder if anyone could provide some information about her game and size? How tall is she?

[jayakris]

She too will be going to Italy it seems. That must be again at Bob Brett's place.

Like I said, why not make him the national coach ?

Jay

[jayakris]

Sanaa from what I have heard is not too tall. She was never known much more power play either (Ankita is known as more of a power player if I am not mistaken - she is taller too). Sanaa is a smart player with a lot of tennis sense though.

Sanaa and Tara stopped playing juniors too early, in my view. I don't understand some of these things. If she had stayed in the top-50 in the juniors, she would have easily got sponsored by AITA for about 6 to 9 junior events where she would have got the kind of competition she is asking for.

Why does everybody stop playing juniors too early, and then complain of lack of sponsorship? .. It makes no sense to me, AT ALL. The moment they start making some noise, they stop totally and start playing only senior events (and normally when they are ready only to go deep in the pro events held in India, if at all). Then they all talk about no sponsor getting interested. How can a sponsor get interetsed unless you start creating some serious news. In the juniors you are playing at places like Wimbledon. In the pros you are playing at Muzaffarnagar for a $10K tournament that even the newspapers are reluctant to write about. Why blame the sponsors? .. This is not specifically about Sanaa. I have heard similar comments from others too.

Jay

[amr090]

Jay obviously everyone cant stop playing juniors early...but honestly as long as a player has fundamentals and talent, i think some players can succeed from a young age. look at all the russians and eastern european girls, sharapova is more a rule than the exception these days. you've got 15, 16 and 17 yrar olds in the top 100.

i think if you're good enough, it's ok too turn pro early. obviously the big question is are you good enough or not though.

[jayakris]

Arun -- that is the mistake they all make. The Russians and Europeans have been playing tough events and losing to good players from age 12 (unlike from age 15 in our case). If you look at those players in the top-100, most of them stopped playing juniors only after reaching top-10 or so at least (Sharapova got up to #6 at age 15.5, Kuznetsova got up to #1 at age 16.5, Petrova got to #3 at age 16.5, Zvonareva go to #3 at age 17) ..

Everybody looks at the age when they started playing the pros, and assume that they did not play juniors. Only about 1 in 5 or 6 avoid the juniors .. All the rest of them stopped only after they reached right to the top and found they were not losing much in the juniors at all. Not a single Indian players since Leander reached that level of junior play, to say it was time for them to stop the juniors and move on. Why do our players do this stuff that good juniors from abroad do not do at all.

More .. Let us look at the younger players in the men's top-20 also .. Federer played till he was #1 in the juniors (at age 17.2) .. Roddick played till he became #1 (age 17.4) Coria played till he became #1 at age 18 .. Nalbandian reached #3 at age 17 .. J.Johansson played till he became #2 at age 18 .. Robredo got up to 8 at age 17.5 .. Ancic played till he was #1 at age 16.8 .. The worst high ranking was actually Hewitt at about 17, but he still got up to #17 before he quit because he had that big breakout ATP title out of the blue .. Among the guys in the top 20, only two freaks (Nadal and Safin) decided not to continue till they got to the very top of the juniors.

In other words, around the world, the players continue in the juniors (even if they are all getting some ATP and WTA wildcards and unlike Indian kids) .. They all think that the junior circuit is tough enough .. Well if you have not reached the top-10 at least, that means you are losing to some good players, which means by definition you are indeed getting good competition.

I think there is talk going around in Indian tennis cricles that the junior circuit is not tough enough, all the western players go up only by playing the pro events etc. It is utter bullsh** .. really, it makes me mad when I hear that crap.

If you are not reaching the final 4 of grand slam and grade-A events consistently, you have no business buying theargument that the junior circuit is not good for you. Especially when you get sponsorship and coach to go play those events and you also get hospitality from ITF. There is NO reason for Indians to get started on pro events too early. Of course, no problem at all if they play all the ITF pro events in India, but that should not be after stopping the junior events. It is almost like thinking too much of oneself without the proper basis for it.

.. Once again, this is not at all about Sanaa .. Just general comments. Since it came up here, I am writing in this thread, that is all.

Jay

[Indian]

Totally agree with Jay. One of the problem for Indian players is that they do not have good competetion in Juiniors and if they turn pro ahead of time and lose quite a few matches, it can dent their confidence as well. How about getting to know your age group first, before venturing out in pros. If you are very good at the start, you should be a top junior anyway.

[vishnureddy]

Sanaa from what I have heard is not too tall. She was never known much more power play either (Ankita is known as more of a power player if I am not mistaken - she is taller too). Sanaa is a smart player with a lot of tennis sense though.

Yup she is probably around 5'6 and as Jay summed up a smart player but imo needs to build a bit of muscles to add power to her groundstrokes to reach a higher level as that is what seemed to be lacking in her play when i last saw her.

[Sandeep]

Sanaa needs to develop lot of power. What she has now is not enough for international circuit.But I don't know how one can improve power in their shots with out loosing control.