In Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, does India have its own tennis prodigy?
Summary
The teenaged Maaya powered her way to the semifinals of the L&T Mumbai Open. This is the story of how she went from wildcard to hero in a week
For a week in Mumbai, India’s city of dreams, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi took Indian tennis on a fantastical ride. While her legs were tired by the end of it, her courage rarely wavered as she went from a wildcard in the qualifiers to a semi-finalist at the L&T Mumbai Open.
The 15-year-old from Coimbatore shattered the shroud of despondency that seems to have settled on Indian tennis of late. As Maaya progressed through the WTA 125k, currently the biggest women’s tennis event in India, the nation got a look at its own teen prodigy.
Though slight, she packs a punch. Playing in only her fifth professional event, Maaya won the two qualifying rounds to make it to the main draw. She then proceeded to defeat Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, former top-50 player Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan and Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi to become the first Indian player to reach a home WTA semifinal since Sania Mirza’s sensational title run at the 2005 WTA Hyderabad Open. Maaya also became the first player born in 2009 to make to the last four at this level.
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Her dream run was finally ended on Saturday by fifth seed and eventual champion, the Swiss Jil Teichmann. A former top-25 player, southpaw Teichmann hit the ball harder and heavier than most at the Mumbai Open, and won her last three matches in straight sets to claim the crown.
“I was tired, my legs were not working like I wanted them to. As I said earlier, I always rely on my legs," said Maaya after the semifinal, which was her sixth match in eight days. “But I’m happy I was able to compete well. I got to see what it’s like to play at the highest level. As I improve, I’ll be playing more players like this. Even the top 100, 150 will play like this. Physically, I was not able to keep up after five-six matches at this level. I’ll have to improve on that."
Till recently, the Mumbai Open was not even on Maaya’s radar. In December, the teenager was invited to train for a year at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca after a month-long trial. She was waiting for a Schengen visa for Spain when the opportunity popped up: a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the WTA 125. And she was quick to pounce on it, like she did on every loose ball during the course of the tournament.
“When I first met her, more than the talent it was the temperament that stood out," her coach Manoj Kumar said during the tournament. Her parents, Rajeshwaran and Revathi, who have been with her every step of the way are simple, attention-shy people. “But she loves to talk," her mother Revathi says. “I don’t know where she gets it from, but right from the beginning, she has been very confident."
Before the start of the Mumbai Open, Maaya, who still plays on the junior tour, was unranked on the WTA charts. Her semifinal finish has propelled her to the top-700: Maaya will be No. 645 in the world when the WTA rankings are released today.
More than the numbers though, it’s her poise and promise that enthralled the crowd at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), which hosted the event. Despite her limited experience on the senior tour, Maaya rarely looked out of depth on centre stage. A confident ball-striker, the 15-year-old seems to have an innate knowledge of how to build a point, when to defend and when to pull the trigger.
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She has a steady, if not a scathing, serve, that doesn’t easily break under pressure. Off the court, the articulate Maaya was able to power through despite the growing number of distractions and her expanding fan base. With Maaya progressing to the quarterfinals, tickets for the last three days of the tournament were sold out. Already, younger players, and mums of players, sought her out for advice.
Rather than resisting it; Maaya soaked in the experience. “I don’t know when I’ll get to play in front of the home crowd next," she said. Her short-term goals include breaking into the top-10 in juniors and playing the junior Slams, starting with the French Open in May.
From a rank outsider before the event, she has become the pied piper of Indian tennis. It is unfair to put that kind of pressure to put on those young, slender shoulders. But women’s tennis in India hasn’t had a hero since Mirza, and Maaya seems ready for the challenge.
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.
