Sandeepti Singh Rao Thread

[jayakris]

Let me break rules like PKB and start this thread. 19 year old Sandeepti is only in the final and has not won the W15 at Jhajjar to fulfill our thread-creation rules yet. But the 7 match win streak with upsets of the qualies 1st seed, and the Main draw's 1st, 3rd and 5th seeds, to reach the final is enough for me! (Edit: Added the finals's score also)

[F] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) l. (4) Zeel Desai (IND,653), 61 16 46
[SF] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. (3) Tamara Curovic (SRB,535), 75 26 76(5)
[QF] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. (5) Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND,706), 62 76(4)
[R2] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. (1) Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,386), 76(5) 62
[R1] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND,1196), 62 62
[Q3] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. (14) Paavanii Paathak (IND,NR), 60 63
[Q2] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. (1) Ishwari Matere (IND,1133), 64 612
[Q1] Sandeepti Singh Rao (IND, NR) d. Komal Nagare (IND, NR), 60 60

(It is the quickest that we have ever made a thread after a player started the pro career. She is only playing her third pro event. And she is not even ranked in the WTA rank list! Mindboggling)

[PKBasu]

Fully deserving of her own thread. Thanks for starting it, Jay !

She has earned her way to the final by beating the top seeded Marcinkevica early on, and then sustaining that level in subsequent rounds.

[jayakris]

Let us give some credit to Sandeepti's coach, Ankit Patel of Tennis Vidyalaya in Gurugram. He was also the coach of our u14 junior team last year that almost beat Korea for the Asian title. He must be a good coach. The name was ringing a bell, so I checked and a Kamesh Sreenivasan article helped. It is the same Ankit Patel who was a top-5 junior player from the time when Jeevan, Rupesh Roy etc were at the top some 20 years ago in the juniors. He didn't come up in his own career, but learned coaching from Aditya Sachdeva, one of the best in India.

[Rajiv]

And if these results continue with regularity, apart from our tradition of starting a thread would follow the second tradition of giving a sobriquet to a player and would call her "Serindipity"(a fortunate discovery) which rhymes to her name perfectly

[jayakris]

And if these results continue with regularity, apart from our tradition of starting a thread would follow the second tradition of giving a sobriquet to a player and would call her "Serindipity"(a fortunate discovery) which rhymes to her name perfectly

Well, she is in the final this week two. This time on hard courts, unlike the Jhajjar clay courts where she played her first three pro events (one last Feb, and two the last two weeks). She has beaten the 5th seed, 3rd seed and the 7th seed this week, including taking revenge on Zeel Desai for last week's finals loss. I think Sandeepti is indeed a serendipitous find for Indian tennis!

[Rajiv]

The word "Serindipity" has it roots and origin to the Sanskrit name of SriLanka which was then called as "Swarna Dweep" in Sanskrit , and was anglicized to "Serindip" by the British and based on "Serindip" later on they created a new expression calling it "Serindipity" an another name for a fortuitous or a fortunate discovery.

[jayakris]

^^^ Yep. In fact, Islamic literature from early times (I believe as early as the 8th century, if not earlier) had used the word Serendib in Arabic to refer to the place where Allah's first prophet, Adam (the first man created by God) descended to the world. The current Sri Lanka. That is the reason why Rama's bridge was called Adam's bridge. Also the reason why some Muslims even claim that the birthplace of Islam is also India (Eve is supposed to have descended in Jeddah, S.Arabia) - because the belief in those early centuries was that Serendib was part of India which is also in some literature. The word "Swarnadweep" was of course from samskRtam, as you said, too.

[sameerph]

Sandeepti lost in the final for second week in succession. So, she earns 12 points from just 2 weeks and will be ranked somewhere in 1000's in WTA rankings a week later. But, of course she will go up faster soon as she already seems to be playing top 500 level tennis.

[Omkara]

An above average player reaches ~500 ranking soon. Then they lose put.

To move into top 500 you need ~80-85 points. If SSR able to get these in next 10 countable tournaments or roughly 7 points a tournament, then probably she is playing top 500 tennis.

If she takes longer, then she will settle at 500-700 like Zeel and others.

[jayakris]

Typically, what she just did would be done only by a top-250 or better caliber player while starting off. Not at all common to see somebody start the pro career with a 16-4 record against older players. But with Indian prospects, one can never say anything, because the support system may not kick in at all. Right now, AITA should be making plans to come up with funds for her to travel to at least 10 tournaments, but are they? I don't think so; Fat chance. It is not like they have a whole ton of prospects to support, but that doesn't matter. They just don't do anything.

Kamesh's reports in The Hindu seem to indicate that she is a good mover and great fighter on court, but he was not glowing in praise or anything. He did not seem to say that she is a power player either (which might be an indication of some upper ceiling). Having followed several matches' score progression the last couple of weeks, it is quite clear to me that she has great temperament and a keen sense of doing the job at key junctures of the match. Quite unusual for a player this young, at the start of the pro career. But it is all way too early to say. I hope there will be some sort of webcam from Bengaluru, so that we can see her play. Can't make any judgement on where she will reach without seeing her game. So far, a top-600 seems quite sure. If it will become top-300 remains to be seen.

[Rajiv]

Does anyone have any idea about Sandeepti's plan/schedule, as her thread has been inactive for a while.

[Dinesh]

She is supposed to play at the W15 tournament in Thailand starting the week of August 21st. She did play in a couple of W15 events in the last month in Thailand but lost in the opening round both times. Hope she can turn it around this time.

[Rajiv]

^^Thanks

[jayakris]

Bad news on SSR. She underwent ACL (Anterior Collateral Ligament) surgery last week, as reported by Indian Tennis Daily...

Here is her Instagram note last week

Going for my Surgery( My ACL Reconstruction+Meniscus Repair)
The Worst part of playing Tennis or any sport is any INJURY, specially when you have to under go for the Surgery.
During my match I twisted my knee and heard a horrible cracking sound and fell and cried a lot in pain & fear as the only thing came to my mind was that what just happened rn is it the same thing what happened 3 years ago. Yes 3years ago it was my Right knee ACL and I didn't step on court for about an year and there were so many other things which I have been through which my mom dad been through specially mentally
It's very frustrating and heart breaking that the moment you start getting a little progress and suddenly life pulls you down so badly where you loose all the hardwork, progress, rank you made and you don't have any option but to start everything from a scratch.
And some people envy your success, resulting in an evil eye, and get pleasure by seeing you in this situation but I guess that makes sense also as they are not strong like u nd that makes you different from them.
It raises so many questions and doubts in your mind. But this off court period gives you time to figure out so many things, you realize lot of things which helps you to get better.
In the mean time you have to be so strong MENTALLY which is the hardest part as Nothin seems to be right or motivating, even being positive is very hard no matter if people keep saying everything will be ok, don't think much etcetc. Because you are the sufferer dealing with it,Only you know how you are feelin.
But in mean time your closest people who genuinely care for you, r there for u, make u laugh, make this hard time a bit easier to paas
I just wanna Thank my mom dad for being by my side always, never let me feel that I am alone no matter how hard time is, how broken I am, U guys r just Simply Best So Grateful to have you in my LifeAlso wanna thank those who came to meet me and for the sweet wishes and msg
Also wanna thank those for whom I was always there but they were not there for me when I needed them the most, it made me realize that I don't need anyone and I m strong enough to go through this phase on my own.

ACL surgeries take months for recovery. Let us wish her a fast recovery!

[Kumar]

Man what a bummer.. Applaud her.. requires lot of courage to go thru surgery and second time at that.
Best Wishes for quick recovery from surgery.