$15K ITF futures, Delhi (Jan 17)

[sramu]

Here's the entry list :

Pos Name Nation Ranking Prot'd Points Priority Information
1 SHERWOOD, David GBR 289
2 GREUL, Simon GER 296
3 $ AMRITRAJ, Prakash IND 340
4 SUGIYAMA, Norikazu JPN 350
5 MANKAD, Harsh IND 360
6 KHAN, Aqeel PAK 363
7 SIPAEYA, Sunil-Kumar IND 369
8 VALTZER, Dekel ISR 489
9 KANNAN, Vijay IND 514
10 KWON, Chris USA 525
11 UPPAL, Vishal IND 548
12 SRIDHAR, Vinod IND 581
13 RAMASWAMI, Ajay IND 599
14 KROTIOUK, Sergei RUS 662
15 $ VITTUR, Alex ITA 666 4
16 KRAVCHUK, Konstantin RUS 705
17 COOK, Lester USA 752
18 PATHANJALI, Ravi-Shankar IND 813 2
Alternates
Pos Name Nation Ranking Prot'd Points Priority Information
19 INOYATOV, Murad UZB 822
20 KANNAN, Kamala IND 843=
21 OUVAROV, Michael GBR 845 2
22 ISTOMIN, Denis UZB 858=
23 SHOKEEN, Vivek IND 862
24 MATHEW, Jaco IND 871 2
25 SHOKOOFI, Ashkan IRI 885
26 SINGH, Ashutosh IND 960=
27 HASSANI-NAFEZ, Shahab IRI 962=
28 EGGER, Markus AUT 966= 2
29 SHAHGHOLI, Anoosha IRI 988=
30 RASTOGI, Karan IND 1005=
31 SINGH, Sanam IND 1076=
32 KAMRAN, Rozbeh IRI 1082=
33 SCHEIDWEILER, Mike LUX 1100= 1
34 $ QAMAR, Nomi PAK 1119=
35 IVANOV, Dmitry UZB 1143= 1
36 SYED, Rahil IND 1143=
37 SHARAN, Divij IND 1197=
38 NEDUNCHEZHIYAN, Jeevan IND 1197=
39 $ SIBILLA, Mark FRA 1197= 1
40 SINGH, Gurmehar IND 1232=
41 DO, Minh-Quan VIE 1272=
42 NIJAKI, Jakub POL 1272= 2
43 WALIA, Varun IND 1304=
44 CHEEMA, Wasif PAK 1304=
45 GOUTHAM, Arjun IND 1349=
46 TAHERI, Akbar IRI 1349=
47 MORRIS, Simon GBR 1463= 5
48 NATHAN, Kris USA 1463= 4
49 $ MISHRA, Shivang IND 1463=
50 MOHAZEBNIA, Mohammed IRI 1463=
51 WIESLER, Andre GER 1463= 5
52 OCADLIK, Miroslav CZE 1463= 3
53 SI, Yew-Ming MAS 1463=
54 LE, Quoc-Khanh VIE 1463=

Our players who missed Mumbai are here. Prakash has also entered. Tough field. Let us wish the Indians success.

[PKBasu]

Good to see this substantially stronger field. I'm happy that PA has followed the advice some of us have proffered here -- and entered the field for the Delhi Futures. Perhaps he will also seek a wildcard in Mumbai? Uppal is also there, but surprisingly Vishal Punna is not -- and of course ArunPrakash Rajagopalan continues to go missing.

[jaydeep]

Nice to see all r participating in Delhi futures ... But why $ infront of PA and Alex Vittur of Italy from entry list??? or still confirmation is waiting from these players???

Anyway it nice if PA took wild card in Mumbai futures also.

Jaydeep.

PS. Where is ArunPrakash??? He again not showing up for futures ...

[jayakris]

The $ sign normally refers to some unpaid fine. Prakash may have some fine he has yet to pay. I would think it was from the Puebla challenger a few weeks back where he withdrew in the last minute, after the draw was made ..

I am glad he is playing the futures. That means he might ask for a WC to Mumbai next week too.

No idea about ArunPrakash. Because he has no ranking, there is no point in entering the list. He would need a wildcard or play qualies anyway. Wildcard for the first week would be improbable, with those like prakash, Ajay, etc all possibly requiring WCs.

Jay

[Sunil Yajaman]

HI Jay,
I was in Chennai for the first 3 days basically to watch Karan & Divij play. Missed out on Divij as I couldnt get to Chennai on time as I fell sick. Karan played a good match & he started off well. He would definitely get better with maturity but, the most important thing is he proved that he is capable of playing the big guys. He was a classic example of our kids if just trown into the competition, have the ability & heart to stand out against the big players. It is an impressive show by Karan as he was playing a former top 10 player, someone who has won 5 ATP tour titles & has won over 300 matches in the circuit & even more importantly right there at the center court with about 2000 people watching! Taking a lead of 3-0, Karan had Bjorkman in his control & that was THE problem...Karan started to think that HE HAD HIM!! It is a normal feeling but with some advice, drills & maturity he should be able to overcome this. I'm waiting for the day when Somdev, Divij, Sanam, Jeevan, Arunprakash, Rupesh all get this opportunity & it would be interesting to see how they would fare.

Harsh is really playing solid & it was unfortunate that he lost. It was a great performance by him. In my opinion, he is playing best tennis amongst Indians & Leander did use the term...enigma for Harsh in his interview. If he goes on like this, I feel he would break into top 100 by the end of next year. I would be happy if he proves me wrong & achieves that earlier. He probably needs to work on his lower body to have stronger legs. Good luck for him.

Arunprakash I heard has undergone a small surgery (not any injury). Also heard that he probably might start with the Delhi Futures (not sure of the wild card aspect).

Sunil

[jayakris]

Thanks Sunil for the update. We all hope that HM would do whast you are saying. I think he did not spend a whole lot of time on lower body work - was focusing a bit more on core strength, abs, endurance etc (at Pasadena). Legs are probably the one part that had improved a bit during his colege years, and so he would probably get to that a little later. Anyway, it was very nice to see him play well.

Karan will be there. He probably needs some more coaching and proper drilling on many of the mental aspects of tennis. I think he is quite strong, nerves-wise, but not that strong as far as mental strategy, game-time self-motivation and those kind of stuff (just my feeling, based on reports on his matches). Glad to see him getting nice support so far.

Can't wait for Somdev to get out of college and hit the circuit in a yeasr or two. That dude will be something special, I think.

Hope ArunPrakash is fine after the small procedure. Thanks for the update!

Jay

[jaydeep]

Thanks Sunil for superb firsthand update ... Wishing speedy recovery for ArunPrakash and soon he will be back on circuit ... And Jay I wasn't aware of $ funda of Unpaid Fine ... Thanks to u also.

Nice to know that Karan is making progress towards right direction ... He should get proper coaching for minute aspects of tennis to move ahead ... Somdev definetly will be the next big thing in Indian tennis ... And as we all always say Harsh is currently best Indian singles player ... With his current form he will definetly break into Top 200 before end of this year ... But as PKB mentioned earlier that he should look after his health in all these progress and here Sunil also rightfully told us about needs of improvement on his lower body ... Harsh will definetly look after it in his next physical training stint.

Jaydeep.

[amr090]

what im really interested to see here is how harsh does against this guy greul. if you remember greul just outclasses all the indians in the last circuit and looks like hes back for more. i think its time for harsh and company to send him back on his way to germany with a few losses.

in all seriousness tho greul seems extremely talented, and im looking forward to seeing what harsh does against him.

[sramu]

Simon did well on clay courts - his performance was not that good in Masters on hard court. Our guys are better performers in hard court. So, hopefully Indians should have better results in these two futures in Mumbai and Delhi as these are on hard courts.

[PKBasu]

I agree with sramu -- although he lost to an non-Indian in the Masters leg too, IIRC!
Thanks a lot, Sunil, for the excellent first hand update and professional analysis.

[jayakris]

Aqeel Khan and Chris Kwon have withdrawn from both the futures, Mumbai and Delhi ..

I wonder if Gruel is planning to come for just one event - Delhi .. He is not in the list for Mumbai.

Jay

[gvhvhg]

oh! i wonder whats up with Aqeel

[nkoth]

oh! i wonder whats up with Aqeel

Who cares? The Indian contingent has been dealt a break!

(Well, I hope he's not injured though.)

[sramu]

Simon Gruel is here in Mumbai - he also missed entry deadline like our guys !

[PKBasu]

Greul is still there in the draw at Mumbai (SF), continuing to torment Indians. Let's hope someone gets the better of him soon!