CHENNAI: The 2023 Australian Open Junior Championships starting this week at Melbourne Park will feature five players from India. A stepping stone for young and upcoming tennis players, the prestigious tournament features the top 150 internationally ranked junior players from across the globe. Currently ranked at 136 for singles (as per the International Tennis Federation junior rankings), Bengaluru-based athlete Kriish Ajay Tyagi is one of them.
Fifteen-year-old Tyagi is taking part in the tournament for the first time, but expresses little to no jubilation at his feat. “It’s great, but I have much more to achieve. While I was happy, I need to be in a different mindset right now and fully focus on the tournament. So far I’ve had a few practice matches against players with better rankings than me. I don’t have any expectations. I just want to play freely and gain as much experience as possible. I still have three years in the junior category, so I feel no pressure,” he shares.
A resident of Sarjapur, Tyagi took to tennis at the age of 10, and has since achieved remarkable success at the national-level championships. Earlier, he was ranked second in the under-16 category and sixth in the under-18 by the All India Tennis Association. In 2021, he won the under-14 nationals and the following year, he went on to win in both under-16 and under-18 categories.
So, how did his tennis journey start? “When I was younger, I wasn’t that serious about sports. However, I used to try out all sports after school, like swimming, football and such. But when I started playing tennis around the age of 10, I enjoyed it and started taking regular training sessions,” Tyagi says, adding, “One of my teachers thought that I had the potential to do well in the sport and suggested I train with an academy.” And the rest is history.
Despite his success at the national level, Tyagi initially struggled at international tournaments and had to up his game in terms of his technique and fitness level. “The difference between national ranking tournaments and international ranking tournaments is huge. Since you’re going against the best players from across the world, the level of play is very high.
At these tournaments, every player is aware of all the techniques in the book. So, strategy and the level of fitness become major contributors,” he says, adding, “I had to shift academies to be able to match that level of play. That’s when I moved to Harsha Lingappa Tennis Academy. Ever since, the growth has been really good. The training, especially the techniques, patterns of play that can win you points and matches, has helped me climb up the ITF rankings.”
The state of infrastructure and support system available to athletes in India is often criticised for being woefully underequipped. Among the Indian-origin athletes competing at the 2023 Australian Open Junior Championships, Tyagi is the only player currently training within the country. Yet Tyagi shares that his training hasn’t been lacking in any way, courtesy his coaches. “As long as you have the right coach, who can identify and help you work on your weaknesses and maximise your potential, everything falls into place. We had one month of intense training, mainly focussing on my stamina, flexibility and overall strength,” he adds.
An admirer of the record nine-time Australian Open champion and current world number 5 (as per the Association of Tennis Professionals), Novak Djokovic, Tyagi hopes to one day emulate the Serbian. “I love Djokovic’s play style. More importantly, his fighting spirit and flexibility. My aim is to eventually reach the pro-level, win multiple Grand Slams and possibly become the world number one someday,” he concl-udes.