I thought I'd start this thread to track Niru's progress and how her comeback form injury turns out. So far at Tallahassee she has made the main draw and will play the 6th seeded COHEN ALYSSA (USA,369) . No real breaks here but atleast it will give us a real test of where she is so far. With her wins qualifying stage (quite conving I might add) I think she is now easily back in form to make it amongst the top 5 Indian women players.
Here is wishing her the best and her results in the qualies so far.
Yes she did in straight sets too.
6-Alyssa Cohen (USA,369) bt q-Nirupama Sanjeev (IND) 6-3 6-3.
All in all not too bad a first tourney for Niru after the injury layoff. She did get some good match practice against some ~700 ranked players. Unfortunately the draw was unkind to her and she got a top 350 player in the first round. There is a big jump in the level of tennis (700-->350) but as she didn't get blown out of the water in the match, I would like to think her recovery is underway. The next couple of weeks where she has entered a few more tournaments should give us a better idea and hopefully the draw is kinder.
It will take time for Niru to get back to her previous form. I remember Pete Sampras writing about his return to tennis after an injury lay off some years back. He said that all the work-out in the gym is not as much as playing three or five set matches on a regular basis on the tour. And once you get your physical shape back after a long lay off the mental game takes even longer.
I admire Niru's desire to return to pro-tennis and I think that she is doing it the right way.
Nirumpama seems to have skipped the $10K Boca Raton satellite event this week. The qualifying draw is out and she is not listed as one of the entrants.
Initially she was going to take advantage of her injury protected ranking to enter this one (Dec entry list) but then in the Jan list she was listed as an alternate(#5) for qualifying. Now as I see alteranate below her in the quali draw. I am assuming that she has withdrawn. Probably to work on some of the things that she saw in her 4 matches at Tallahassee.
Niru is still in the last entry list for the $50K Fullerton challenger. She is using her injury protected ranking so she has a direct entry to the main draw.
I think Jay is close to this tournament so if she plays we might be able to get some really good coverage.
Not wanting this thread to die I will basically bring this back up. I guess we are getting more posts than I thought we would which is a good thing . I guess people don't really mind the format of the new board.
Basically, no news on the Niru front after the $25K that she played. I was hoping the WTA event if a WC or else maybe at the Indian satellites but I guess that is a ways to travel just for a couple of points. I know there are bunch of satellites/challengers (Columbus and St-Paul) in the next couple of weeks in the US but I haven't seen Niru's name in either. Maybe the $10K in Mexico. Any ideas Jay. ??
Side note: Hmm no question mark smilie. Well the Christmas one is out of date so I guess that will be replaced soon.
Nope. No news from Niru. We will simply wait and see. Would have been nice to see her at Columbus challenger where she would have been the 8th seed I believe. But then again, Niru could never be accused of picking the easier events, throughout her career
Yes, she is in the san fransisco bay area (Fremont, CA), where her husband Sanjeev Balakrishnan (brother of sprinter Rajeev Balakrishnan) is a software engineer. I think she was considering the $50 challenger in Mesa Arizona, but I saw the entry list for that - one of the toughest I have ever seen, and Niru is not there. Will need to find out where she is playing next.
Niru seems to have made the draw for the $25K Redding challenger in California for this week. Have not seen the draw, but she was in the entry list originally and the qualies top seed was quite a bit below her injury-protected rank.
I just thought I'd update everyone on Niru's progress so far in Redding. She won both her singles & doubles on Tuesday. She won her singles match 6-2, 7-5 over a local girl (Elizabeth Plotkin) who recently won a Girls 16 National title in Arizona & she won her doubles 6-2, 6-2 (with partner, Bryanne Stewart from Australia). I've had the pleasure of working with her recently & must say she's almost ready to hit it big again out there on the WTA. It takes special talent to recover from injury and the subsequent layoff. Niru certainly possesses this & is coming back strong!!!
I second that. When I saw her in Fullerton a month back, I thought I saw her serve the best I have ever seen. She was still rusty and I was not sure if her confidence level was up there. Hope she gets back up there soon.
Looks like today (wednesday) will be an off-day for her at Redding.. next round opponents in S and D to be determined today.
mrobe10s, if you can tells us who you are, please do. It's OK if you don't want to, also.
My name is Mark Roberts (mrobe10s) & I work at a beautiful club in Los Gatos. We hold some of the Siebel Open at our site due to the fact that we have three indoor courts. During the tournament, Niru was able to work out with Anand Armitraj a few times while Stephen & Prakash were playing in the event. She also hit with Bryanne Stewart (her current partner at Redding) who was in town at the same time. This was great for her as this level of competition forces her to continue raising her standards of play on a daily basis. As for the tournament, she said that she was very satisfied with her level of play (aside from a little letdown at the start of the second set in singles). I really think the breakthrough is close. Her attacking skills are now what is separating her from the rest of the pack. Her willingness is keep putting pressure on the opponent by coming in, is really reaping the benefits (along with taking the strain off of being so good off the ground!!!) She deserves this & is motivated to take the next step!!! Everyone should be proud of what she's been doing on the road back & where it takes her next!!!
. I guess people don't really mind the format of the new board. 