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Against the odds: Meet the next generation of India's women tennis players
Summary
Under-funded and provided no support, India's women tennis players battle apathy just to be competitive. A new generation of players are aiming for success despite the odds
Five minutes before she walked on to the court for her first WTA Tour main draw match, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi learnt about the change of opponents. Rather than UK’s Yuriko Miyazaki, who pulled out due to illness, she would be playing Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus. It was just one of the surprises thrown at the Indian player this week. And she took it in her stride like she had everything else.
“It didn’t matter," says the 15-year-old. “I was only focused on my game."
When she entered the WTA 125K L&T Mumbai Open, the biggest women’s tennis event in India, Revathi was best known as the player who, in December, was selected to train at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca for a year. Over the course of the week, she showed why. It’s not just how hard she hits the ball, but the intent with which she does it. She’s aggressive but not reckless. Her clarity of vision and point construction seem mature beyond her years. Though Revathi predominantly plays on the junior tour and is currently ranked No.56 in the world, she looked like she belonged on the big stage.
Given a wild card to the qualifiers, the Indian pounced on the opportunity, winning the two matches to advance to the main draw. In the first round, she outplayed 27-year-old Shymanovic 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 15 minutes to register her first WTA victory. The points she has earned from the Mumbai Open will be enough to get her a ranking on the women’s tour.
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Revathi’s arrival may well shift the focus back on women’s tennis in the country. India has some pedigree in men’s tennis, with the Krishnans (Ramanathan and son Ramesh), the Amritrajs (brothers Vijay and Anand), Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi dazzling on the international stage. In the last decade, Yuki Bhambri, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sumit Nagal have broken into the top 100 and have represented India at the Grand Slams.
However, Sania Mirza remains the face of women’s tennis. Mirza, whose best Grand Slam singles performance was a fourth-round finish at the 2005 US Open, is the first and only Indian to break into the top 100 in singles. Mirza’s Australian Open appearance in 2012 was the last time an Indian woman competed in the main draw of a Grand Slam event in singles.
If anything, tennis has become more competitive and physical since Mirza left the stage. And most of the Indian players are fighting for survival, without many resources or much support. According to the latest rankings, India has four players in the top 400—Sahaja Yamalapalli at 291, Ankita Raina at 297, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty at 325 and Vaidehi Chaudhari at 400.
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One of the coaches at the event was quick to point out, “Whenever I travel abroad with players, the first question people ask me, ‘Where is India’s tennis programme?’" It’s a question that hasn’t been answered yet.
India’s lack of a grassroot programme is telling—the current India No.1, Yamalapalli, had her first proper coaching stint at the age of 14. Born in a middle-class family, Yamalapalli started playing tennis with second-hand rackets and without a certified coach.
“I took up tennis when I was 10," the Hyderabad girl recalls. “All I could afford was to pay for tennis courts, which was ₹1,000 for a month. One of the markers would feed me balls and that was it." She learnt to grip the racket, the wrong way, from YouTube tutorials. Only once she was 14, she started working at the Sinnet Tennis Academy in Secunderabad. Yamalapalli, 24, had her first taste of an organised tennis programme when she earned a scholarship to the Sam Houston State University and started playing on the US college circuit.
Meanwhile, Bhamidipaty’s family have invested everything they have in her tennis. They have even turned their car, a Toyota Innova, into a mobile home since she spends, on an average, six hours every day, travelling to and from her coaching and fitness venues. It is mainly individual ingenuity like this that has women’s tennis in India going.
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There are only a handful of state tennis associations—namely Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu—working at the grassroot level and giving their players more opportunities. Over the last two months, India has hosted five big international events—the WTA 50 Navi Mumbai, the WTA 50 New Delhi, W100 Bengaluru, W75 Pune and the WTA 125 in Mumbai.
This not only helps players cut the travel costs but gives them a sustained run in home conditions to earn valuable ranking points. These ranking points, in turn, determine their world ranking and level of tournaments they play—the higher the level of tournaments, the greater chance they have at earning ranking points and money. Tennis’ unforgiving structure is what makes it one of the most fascinating sports. But it puts some serious pressure on the players and the resources.
“We are now getting a lot more opportunities at bigger tournaments," says Raina, who reached a career high of 160 in May 2020. “But it is nothing compared to what the US, Europe or Australia has. I have seen some players who play mostly in Australia and still have a good enough ranking to make the Grand Slams." For example, US’s Ben Shelton broke into the men’s top 100 without once leaving America—his first trip abroad was to compete at the 2023 Australian Open and the warm up events ahead of it.
Indian players have to travel to the US, Europe and Australia to compete in tournaments. It takes upwards of ₹50 lakh just for players to stay on tour. Adding a coach or fitness trainer is a cost most Indians can’t afford.
Additionally, the WTA coaching rules changed last year, allowing coaches to pass on instructions to their wards during the match. This has further deepened the chasm between the haves and the have nots. “When your opponent has someone in the coach’s chair, and you don’t, it feels like its one versus two, not one versus one on the tennis court," adds Raina.
While the Indian women are out on tour, most of them are exhausting their physical, emotional and financial reserves just to stay afloat.
“To be honest, there’s nobody who has created a top 100 player in India," says Rutuja Bhosale, who took the US-college route to the pro tour. “We need the facilities. Also, having the right kind of support at the right time is very important. I think it’s great that at 15 Maaya is already training in Europe; getting that first jump is crucial."
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Despite the odds, Indians made a dent at this week’s Mumbai Open. Two Indians – Bhamidipaty and Revathi – made it to at least the quarterfinals of a WTA event for the very first time. More importantly, the present breed of Indian players doesn’t seem to play with the same kind of inhibitions. They don’t hang back and let the opponents call the shots.
In the last 15 years or so, women’s tennis in India has seen many false dawns. But times like these inspire a glimmer of hope.
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.
