Prajnesh Gunneswaran thread

[Rajiv]

Prajnesh's entry in Chennai Challenger looks doubtful , as during the same week as Chennai he has entered all three, 250's in Montpelier , Sofia and Cordoba. He has not made the MD in any of them and is between 5 to 8 spots away from the MD in each one of them , and probably would make the MD in one of them , when the cut drops closer to the tournament day.

[sameerph]

There is also a davis cup over the weekend before these ATP tournaments (Montpelier , Sofia and Cordoba). So, he cannot play in qualies of any of those but can play in the main draw if he gets in although that too would require long travel. I guess he may see how if the entry cuts are dropping and may play Chennai Challenger as a wild card if he does not get into main draw in Montpelier or Sofia ( Cordoba in Argentina would in any case too far to travel after davis cup).

[sameerph]

After some disappointment at Pune losing in first round, Prajnesh roared back to top form qualifying for his first grand slam at Australian open.

These are his qualifying results at Australian open-

[Q1] (6) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,112) d. Viktor Galovic (CRO, 228) 64 64
[Q2] (6) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,112) d. Enrique Lopez-Perez (ESP,213) 63 63
[Q3] (6) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 112) d. Yosuke Watanuki (JPN,192) 67(5) 64 64

Great for him to do this at the age of 29. He lost a few years earlier due to injury but seems to be making up for it and playing a grand slam main draw is an important milestone in his progress. Hope this is just a start and he will be consistently in the main draw of the slams for the next 2-3 years at least.

Go Gunners. Get a win in main draw.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh's entry in Chennai Challenger looks doubtful , as during the same week as Chennai he has entered all three, 250's in Montpelier , Sofia and Cordoba. He has not made the MD in any of them and is between 5 to 8 spots away from the MD in each one of them , and probably would make the MD in one of them , when the cut drops closer to the tournament day.

As I posted in a new thread for Chennai Challenger, Prajnesh entered the Chennai Challenger as top acceptance. He did not entry any of the ATP tournaments for the subsequent 2 weeks too although he would have got very close to main draw at both New York and Delray beach ATP and would probably have made the main draw in the end. It looks like he wants consolidate his position in the ranking and get into top 100 and better before moving fully to ATP tour events.

[arjun2761]

This may be a smart choice for development reasons as well. Playing more matches where he can experiment with his more aggressive shots will probably help him at the ATP level later. Right now, he could be one-and-done at the ATP level if he experiments in those tournaments as we saw in the Pune and Australian Open main draws.

[knarayen]

This may be a smart choice for development reasons as well. Playing more matches where he can experiment with his more aggressive shots will probably help him at the ATP level later. Right now, he could be one-and-done at the ATP level if he experiments in those tournaments as we saw in the Pune and Australian Open main draws.

Agree, he needs to up his aggression if he wants to progress in main draw. This means that foot speed also needs to go up several levels. My concern is that improving foot speed is hard to do at 29, but not impossible - he will have to work much harder than say a 23 year old. I hope he gets a good coach who can work with him in these areas. This should be happening already.

Prof

[Varma]

Gunner's honest opinion about India's bad Tennis infrastructure was noticed by Tsitsipas who related it with his situation and mentioned it in his press conference yesterday.

I saw one of the interviews that Gunneswaran gave a few days ago, the Indian guy, saying even if he does well it's not going to affect his country. I found this kind of related to my situation, as well. Greece doesn't have the structure and unfortunately what it takes to create a player from such a small country.

- Varma

[bujilover]

Good to see Prajnesh’s interview seeking attention from an young talented player. Perhaps Tsitsipas could invite him for an off-season training this year?

[knarayen]

Gunner's honest opinion about India's bad Tennis infrastructure was noticed by Tsitsipas who related it with his situation and mentioned it in his press conference yesterday.

I saw one of the interviews that Gunneswaran gave a few days ago, the Indian guy, saying even if he does well it's not going to affect his country. I found this kind of related to my situation, as well. Greece doesn't have the structure and unfortunately what it takes to create a player from such a small country.

- Varma

Yeah I noticed the same thing about a match Yuki won last year against a really good player (forget which one) and hardly noticed in Indian press. I mentioned it on my Facebook post and Chandra (Lee’s first coach and later DC coach for some time - and my good friend) gave me a like and responded as well.
Cricket rules in India and all other sports are pushed to the sidelines. Not complaining, I love cricket too, but there is not much balance and the AITA does nothing from a marketing or sponsorship perspective to change anything.

Prof

[Rajiv]

After Chennai , Prajnesh heads to Bangkok for the Bangkok Challenger where he is the top seed , He is managing his schedule well , concentrating on challengers to consolidate and further his ranking and should be able to crack the holy grail of Top 100 after the completion of these 2 challengers.

[RohitG]

There are two back-to-back challengers in Bangkok so probably he'll be there for the next week too. Wonder if he'll go for Dubai followed by Indian Wells, Miami or goes for the safer approach in the Asian challenger swing. I also was hoping for a Yuki comeback in the 2 Bangkok challengers but no sign from him yet

[sameerph]

His live ranking is now 102. So, he is very close to top 100 and and even a SF in one of the 2 weeks in Chennai/Bangkok or even a QF in both the weeks should take him to top 100. He has only 7 points to defend till mid April and still has 4 zero pointers in his points tally. So, lots of scope of upward jump in the rankings in next 2-3 months.

I think if he does well in these 2 challengers, he may skip the second week of Bangkok challenger and directly go to Dubai ATP qualies ( or hope for a main draw wild card there). In any case, he should go play Indian Wells and Miami masters in March. No need to play Asian challengers at that time.

[sameerph]

As expected, Prajnesh is at a new career high ranking of 102 in today's official ATP ranking. On the verge of breaking into top 100. Hope he does the same in next couple of weeks in Chennai/Bangkok.

[Rajiv]

There are two back-to-back challengers in Bangkok so probably he'll be there for the next week too.

Rohit yes you were right !! , after the first leg at Bangkok he has also entered the 2nd leg at Bangkok and once again he is the top seed there.
These 3 challengers are going to be very crucial for him as it will set himself nicely for the rest of the year and his target should be minimum... minimum ... 100 to 120 points from all three of them , anything more than that would be a welcome bonus.

[sameerph]

True, 100-120 points will take him to 80's in the rankings. Then he can be comfortable on ranking side and travel to IW/Miami without any pressure to on ranking front. He can then always come back to Asia and play big challengers in Tawain/China in April to defend his last year's points.