Dubai: Indian tennis is breeding a pool of youngsters to handle the transition, according to its Davis Cup and Fed Cup coach Zeeshan Ali.
Ali, on a brief holiday with his family, was a one-time Dubai resident with his own tennis academy while also serving as Davis Cup coach for the UAE. After 15 years in the UAE, he returned to India in 2012 and set up his own academy – the Zeeshan Ali Tennis Academy (ZATA) on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
However, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) came calling and requested Ali to take over the Indian Davis Cup team while earlier this year, the Bengaluru-based coach also took over the Fed Cup squad while serving on the six-member AITA Selection Committee.
“It has been a rewarding few years since I returned to India,” Ali told Gulf News. He is now involved in taking Indian tennis to the next level with attention on a new breed of juniors constantly emerging through the ranks.
“Tennis in India has really picked up. India is one of the 17 countries who have four or more players in the top-200. We have young players like Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal in the men’s while Ankita Raina, Prerna Bhambri, Snehadevi S. Reddy, Rishika Sunkara, Natasha Palha and Prarthana Thombre are the rising stars in the women’s for Indian tennis,” he added.
“In addition, there are fast-improving juniors like Adil Kalyanpur and Siddhant J. Banthia who are doing everything to become the future stars of Indian tennis.”
India has a rich tradition in tennis with the great Ramanathan Krishnan and his son Ramesh and the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand – before Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took it to lofty heights in doubles. “I doubt anyone will be in a position to achieve or replicate what Leander and Mahesh have done in tennis. But the good sign is that the transition has been good so far. It will always be difficult to replace such great players, but the good thing is that we have so many youngsters coming through and that gives me a lot of hope and confidence,” Ali noted.
Last month, Banthia and Kalyanpur registered easy wins as the Indian juniors defeated Australia to qualify as the third and final team from Asia – China and Japan will be the other two - for this year’s Junior Davis Cup to be held at the end of September in Budapest, Hungary. “The juniors have been doing well, and we can see a transition happening from the juniors to the seniors in the next two to three years,” Ali said.
In an attempt to cash in on this talent, and with the Olympic Games around the corner, the Indian coach has decided to organize a 10-day training cum selection camp for Olympic probables later this month. “The plan is to involve the juniors with the seniors as this will be a growth process for the younger players. At the end of the camp, we will have a squad of at least six who will India’s candidates in Rio,” Ali added.
