BENGALURU: All India Tennis Association recently ranked Bengaluru’s Naisha Srivastav (12) the national No 1 in the under-12 girls category.
Coached by Dhyan Uthappa, the young talent trains at Tennis Advantage Academy. She has been playing tennis since the age of six.
A student of Frank Anthony Public School, Naisha won eight singles titles in her age group in 2015 and was the runner-up in five tournaments.
She was virtually unstoppable as she had the measure of her rivals in almost every tournament in the state and the country. Not just in the under-12 section, Naisha has given opponents of higher age groups a run for their money as well.
Soon after winning the under-12 Super Series in Bhubaneshwar in September 2015, she bagged the under-14 title in Bengaluru. Victories in the Talent Series in Noah Sports Bangalore in January 2015 started it all for her, as she bagged the Talent Series at TAMS in August 2015.
As if to prove that her wins were not a flash in the pan, Naisha won the under-14 Talent Series organised by AITA at KSLTA Stadium in the city in February 2015.
Titles in the Fortune Tennis Academy tournament and the Top Spin Tennis Academy made sure her trophy cabinet was overflowing. She tested herself in slightly higher company and did exceedingly well to finish the year as the runner-up in the under-16 Championship Series in the Mahila Seva Samaj event in December 2015.
Naisha packs a punch in her forehand strokes and has a good first serve as well. If she does better with her backhand shots, she will be a tough opponent even in higher levels.
Naisha’s father Niraj Kumar and her schools have been very supportive of her and Naisha is surely on the road to bigger laurels.