Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

[Saniapower]

No need

[sameerph]

As I said in another thread, since Ramkumar has not played junior events at all in last 1 year - he will have to start all over again with grade 5/ 4 level events which would not help him at this stage. He will also have to travel all over away fron his training base in Spain. The best course for him would be to try to get into top 550 in mens rankings by end of the year - which would mean he can play grand slams / higher level junior events based on his ATP ranking next year.

[vidhyashankar]

This week, Ramkumar lost in Q2 after getting a bye in Q1.He lost to the same player who he beat in Q2 last week.

At $10K Morocco F3 futures, Agadir :

[Q1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,NR) bye
[Q2](3) Francesc MONTANES-ROCA (ESP,1286) d Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,NR) 76(5) 60

Ramkumar is ranked 1002 in the ATP rankings with 6 pts he earned in the last two weeks.

[bujilover]

Ramkumar is playing in Spain F20 futures starting tomorrow having made the main draw.

[sameerph]

At $15K Spain F20 , Martos ( Hard)

[R1] RAMANATHAN, R (IND,1028) l. YEVSEYEV, Denis (KAZ,1081) 26 67(1)

So, Ramkmar loses to similar ranked player on hard courts this week.

[Raja Desale]

Spain F21
Ramkumar R is qualify for main draw and 1st round VS WC

[sameerph]

At $10K Spain F21, Melilla ( Hard)

[Q1] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bye
[Q2] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) d. Ashley BOCCO (ITA,NR) 6-1 6-2
[Q3] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) d. (9) Javier PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,1325) 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(5)

Tough comeback win by Ramkumar.

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) v. (WC) Oleksandr KAZAKOV (UKR,NR)

[vidhyashankar]

At $10K Spain F21, Melilla ( Hard) :

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) d (WC) Oleksandr KAZAKOV (UKR,NR) 7-6, 6-3
[R2] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) vs (LL)KHOTULEV, Stepan (RUS,1261)

[jayakris]

Pretty good. Keep it going for a few rounds and get some points RR !! .. Jay

[PKBasu]

Very nice to see the youngster painstakingly gain the ATP points. Perseverance pays!!

[Saniapower]

At $10K Spain F21, Melilla ( Hard) :

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt (LL) Stepan KHOTULEV (RUS,1261) 1-6 6-2 6-0
[R3] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) vs Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP,719)

[jaydeep]

Good comeback win in the second round against Russian, Ramkumar showing grit to earned these ranking points ... So with these couple of points he will enter into 900s ... Go Ramkumar.

[PKBasu]

Very nice to see the 16 year old earn his stripes the hard way in Spain. That he will be inside 900 in the pro rankings at this age is very encouraging.

[jayakris]

But this was also the couple of weeks period when he could have had his early introduction to some grasscourt tennis in the junior circuit and added a little bit of that variety to his game. I really don't like this full-time focus on the pro circuit at this age. It rarely works, based on past experience of many players. I just hope that RR will be the exception. He is certainly having better success little by little than the others in the past on the pro circuit though. I just wish he hadn't totally dropped the junior circuit though.

Jay

[knarayen]

To use Vijay Amritraj's comment about Indian players starting to mature and peak at a later age, I think a case can be made either way - Indian players start to mature only after they turn 20 in my view - until then they can grow their game either in juniors or in Futures events. For some, its better to get grounded early in the pro events - successes in juniors dont always translate into success on the pro tour. To elaborate further - the pro tour is a much longer maturing process, and given that Indian players take a longer time to mature and then peak later, perhaps in some cases it may be better to skip juniors and focus on the men's tour. Again, I don't think we can make sweeping generalizations here - I think those Indian kids who have the drive to succeed on the men's tour and have some means to make it happen simply ought to go ahead and go for it early if they can.

I hope Ramkumar sticks with it - I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to watch him closely and evaluate his game. It would be very interesting to see him in the early stages and watch him as he progresses - perhaps even have the chance to discuss things with him at some stage.

Does anyone know his schedule, where he is playing next, etc?

A few months ago, I was in KL on a consulting deal. I had the opportunity to hit with another young player from Malaysia, Raj Balakrishnan, who was playing on the futures circuit at that time. Raj has such fluency in all parts of his game, incredibly powerful and effective serve, amazing speed and power in all aspects of his game, and yet is having a hard time making a breakthrough. I'm beginning to get a feel for what these young guys are going through - it is getting really tough out there.


Prof