Sharmada Balu, 17, is one of the rising stars of Indian tennis. She aspires to become a world class player. She was trained at various leading academies in the early part of her career and was chosen for the Apollo Tyres Mission 2018 programme.
She now trains at the Tennis Excellence Centre and she feels that she has improved a lot in her technique, fitness and attitude after she began her stint with Tennis Excellence since 2010, which has culminated with her maiden ITF title at Lucknow last week.
“I come from a sports loving family and my father was a former State roller skating champion. I took up tennis when I was about seven years old as my father desired that I should become a tennis player. I started my career at the Mahila Seva Samaj, Basavanagudi. After six months I moved to Tennis Advantage for a short stint of training with coach Dhyan Uthappa. Later, I joined Tennis Village, run by Krishna Bhupathi in April 2001. I continued to train there till January, 2005 when I was handpicked by Mahesh Bhupathi to be a part of Foundation for Indian Sporting Talent (FIST). I was coached by Mose Navarra of Italy and Davis Cupper, Prahlad Srinath under FIST programme at Mahesh Bhupathi’s Tennis Academy (MBTA),” she said.
“Later in December 2006, I got selected for the program Apollo Tyres Mission 2018 to produce India’s first Grand Slam Champion. Being a part of this program I got the opportunity to train with coaches like Mose Navarra, Prahlad Srinath, Bobby Mahal, Balachandran Manikkath and Sandeep Kirtane. My stint at MBTA for Mission 2018 gave me a lot of exposure and experience as I travelled across the world for various tournaments which helped me be more confident to take challenges that come my way head on. Also the exposure made me more committed than before. With the unfortunate closure of Apollo Tyres program I have been training and travelling at my own cost since October 2010,” she said.
“From April 2010 I have been training with Arjun Goutham at Tennis Excellence, a young academy by enthusiastic and committed youngsters who are on a mission to produce Olympians and Grand slam champions. I have been able to take my game to the next level in all areas required ever since. I climbed the senior ranking ladder within a single season by reaching the 6th position in the National ranking list and I am poised to break into WTA’s 700 ranking after my victory at the $ 10,000 tournament at Lucknow,” Sharmada added.
“My career goal is to do well in WTA events and compete in Grand Slam events like Wimbledon and make a mark. My immediate goal is to get into top 300 ranking bracket on the WTA ranking list. My goal is to win Wimbledon & Olympic Gold for India. However, my short term goal is to crack into the top 300 in the WTA ranking list by the end of the next season,” Sharmada concluded.