Against the odds: Meet the next generation of India's women tennis players
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. 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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