Indian tennis player rankings

[sameerph]

Updating year end doubles rankings ( where we had big surge this year)-

3 Rohan Bopanna (CH) (19)
62 Yuki Bhambri (96)
74 N. Sriram Balaji (115)
83 Vijay Sundar Prashanth (CH) (242)
87 Anirudh Chandrashekhar (CH) (201)
94 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (114)
98 Saketh Myneni (84)
107 Arjun Kadhe (CH) (149)
157 Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (322)
173 Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli (352)
176 Ramkumar Ramanathan (71)
179 Divij Sharan (146)

So, we now have 7 players in top 100 and 12 players in top 200 as against 4 and 9 last year end. Bops,VSP , Anirudh, Arjun at their career highs, Yuki, Balaji, Niki, Rithvik only few places below their career highs which were also achieved this year. Only 3 players - Saketh,RamK and Divij and also Purav who has dropped out of top 200 have shown lower ranking than last year.

Overall, promise that in 2024 we will see 4-5 pairs involving Indian pairs in ATP events and 3-4 in slams too.

The young ones among these are Anirudh (25) and Rithvik (22). So, these have long road ahead and can aim for top 50 in future. So, can Yuki (31) , Bala (33),Arjun (29), Niki (28) and RamK (29) who are not too old for doubles.

[Atithee]

With due respect, I don’t think anyone else in the world cares about these accomplishments.

[Omkara]

Means the world for these players. Gives them a reason to move on. Proves to them that they didn't waste last decade chasing a improbable dream.

Let's be kind to them.

[sameerph]

We also would not care for doubles if were very good in singles. But, since we are not, it will be good if we at least do not lose that edge in doubles that we have had since LP-MB days. At last if there are 3-4 doubles pairs of Indian interest in the slams, it keeps some news coming in on the news handles which is ultimately good for the game. In singles, we need some miracle to happen as it did when Sania Mirza arrived, to get our next top level player who can play in slams. Until that happens, some doubles success is good.

[prasen9]

There is a small number of people who care about these accomplishments. And, that is fine. All sports do not have the same following. I don't care and don't follow golf and motor sports. That means nothing to the athletes in these events. I don't think they care either about how many people follow their sport etc. while everyone wants more people to follow their sports. Good that we have made progress. There is an Olympic medal at stake and hope we at least have a shot at that. I hope Bopanna qualifies and gets a solid partner.

[PKBasu]

These are our top 10 ATP singles rankings as of year ending 2022-

340 Sasi Kumar Mukund (420) (300)
348 Gunneswaran, Prajnesh (216) (129)
434 Ramkumar Ramanathan (185) (190)
502 Sumit Nagal (220) (136)
551 Yuki Bhambri (NR)
554 Digvijay Pratap Singh (1401) (1915)
588 Siddharth Rawat (559) (460)
598 Arjun Kadhe (775) (659)
662 Manish Sureshkumar (675) (657)
729 Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (742) (836)

Last 2 years year ending rankings are in brackets. Prajnesh, RamK and Sumit had a steep fall in last 2 years . Can they recover this year from that ? Mukund is also somewhat down if you compare to his top 300 ranking 2 years back.
Down below the only one who we can say who has emerged this year is Digvijay Pratap Singh. Hope he can progess on this year to become a challenger level player.
Rest all are almost at same level as 2 years back and some have regressed from levels before that.

Apart from the honourable exception of Sumit, 2023 has been a pretty dismal year for us in singles. Here are the top-10 Indian singles players currently (based on live rankings):
1. Sumit Nagal 138
2. Ramkumar Ramanathan 442
3. Sasikumar Mukund 511
4. Digvijay Pratap Singh 613
5. SD Prajwal Dev 616
6. Sidharth Rawat 633
7. Rishab Agarwal 666
8. Prajnesh Gunneswaran 706
9. Siddharth Vishwakarma 745
10. Niki Kalyanda Poonacha 782

And here is the complete list of other Indians in the top-1000:
11. Karan Singh 795
12. Ishaque Eqbal 832
13. Manish Sureshkumar 920
14. Arjun Kadhe 926

[Sanjay]

I am excited about Nagal next year. Just him, no one else at this point.
I hope he gets into the top 100. And then top 75.

[PKBasu]

Yes, Sumit Nagal has a great chance to rise into the top-100 by March 2024. The India Challengers in February could help, and any wins he notches up in January (including at the AO qualifiers) would push him up closer to his career-high.

Ramkumar has had a dismal couple of years in singles, but is showing signs of getting his act together again. Hopefully, he will get back to the top-250 in singles by the middle of next year. He had a bad year in doubles too, and needs to settle on a steady partner to make his way back up to the top-100.

It's depressing that, of India's top-10 singles players at the end of 2022, all except Sumit saw their rankings worsen in 2023.

[PKBasu]

Of India's top-10 singles players, the youngest is Digvijay (23 years and 6 months old) followed by Sumit Nagal (26 years and 3 months). The truly big disappointment of the past 3 years has been Mukund (26 years and 8 months old now), given that he was near top-200 four years ago (CH of 229 in Oct'19); he never could recover from the Covid setback. Prajwal Dev is 27 years and 5 months old, Rishab is 28, Niki 28 years and 6 months, Sid Vishwakarma 29 years and 1 month old, Ramkumar 29, Sid Rawat 30 years and 6 months, Prajnesh 34.

[sameerph]

Yes, singles scenerio is depressing. Apart from Sumit ( and now RamK), nobody seems to be ready even to get to challenger or grand slam qualies level i.e top 250. Can Digivijay get there or 20 year old Karan Singh somehow ? Else, we need to wait few more years and hope that Aryan/Yuvan or later Manas or Rushil reach that level.

[Sanjay]

India is getting better at almost all sports. Except tennis. Wonder why.

Forget 70s, we are worse than even the early 00s.

[prasen9]

Has the competition in tennis increased? Have there been innovations that have reached other countries and that has blunted our traditional advantage. To some extent, we were very good because we had a tradition. But, maybe the competition has increased and facilities have increased in the western nations especially and they have produced many more good players and we have not?

[PKBasu]

India is getting better at almost all sports. Except tennis. Wonder why.

Forget 70s, we are worse than even the early 00s.

The AITA is clearly the worst-run and most nepotistic sports federation in India. They have failed to produce a single top-100 singles player in the past 25 years. The ones who emerged (Somdev DevVarman and Sania Mirza) did so because of other avenues (college tennis and a driven family respectively). The previous one, Leander Paes, arguably was partly a product of Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) academy, so again not really an AITA product. That is about as disgraceful a record as possible.

[jayakris]

Totally agree with PKB. The reason for our decline in tennis is very simple. AITA. They have never helped any of the youngsters properly to come up, with right coaching and advice. No need to look for other reasons. (No, it is not because cricket has taken over our tennis courts! )

[Atithee]

What have squash and badminton “federations” produced? Or any other sport for that matter? Not sure AITA is the absolute worst. We just suck as a sporting nation but not for very long, I feel.