CHENNAI: Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi was preordained to grow up around tennis. Her dad, Rajeshwaran, spent a lot of his free-time watching Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi on TV. Soon after she was born in Pollachi, less than an hour's drive from Coimbatore, her dad used to take her to watch local level tennis matches.
Her tennis obsessive father wanted Maaya to take up any sport, preferably an individual sport, as a hobby. Tennis was a natural choice although the presence of three tennis courts next to their house in Coimbatore helped. "Tennis was not love at first sight for me," Maaya tells this daily. "I gradually started to fall in love with the sport (after playing it for the first time when I was eight). I decided to pursue it when I was 10."
Even if some pandemic era kids (Maaya was 10 when Covid-19 hit) have been cooped inside their houses, her formative years were spent 'outside the house'. "Any local tournament... we used to go and watch because he (Rajeshwaran) used to enjoy it," she tells over phone from her training base in Spain. "It's not that I had to watch it but it was better than 'staying at home'. "Even otherwise, I have always been a very outdoor person. My mom (Revathi) and grandmom... they still tease me that whenever I go back home, I am seldom home."
If she wasn't watching tennis, father and daughter used to play junior state level non-ranking tournaments. "Those were fun times," she says. "They used to be one-day non-ranking meets. I used to play as many as 5-6 matches any given day."
As she progressed, she left local tournaments in the rearview mirror. More national level events started occupying her calendar and an ever expanding trophy cabinet at home was a clear indicator of her talents. In 2023, she went a step further as she enjoyed an 83% win record on the junior circuit.
Still training in India, the beginning of 2024 was going to be pivotal for several reasons. Having decided to turn pro, this year would mark her first taste of the big time. More importantly, she wanted to start training in Europe. By her own accounts, 'last year wasn't good' but it was still a landmark year as she earned a full scholarship to train in the Rafa Nadal Academy at Mallorca.
"I have been at the Nadal Academy since October 2024," the 16-year-old says. "From May to June, we were looking for a base in Europe as my coach had felt it would be better to go out. I was actually training in Valencia... the invitation from the Nadal Academy was very unexpected. I was happy and they were happy to take me in.
"It's been great, the first few days were a bit overwhelming. I saw Rafa within a week of joining the Academy and that was the week before the Davis Cup where he was retiring. For him to come and watch me play was unexpected. I had a bit of nerves at the start. He was friendly, very approachable and a very down to earth person."
Her first full conversation with the 22-time Major winner happened post her Mumbai WTA 125 run, 'just after I had joined school there'. "He asked me 'how the tournament was and how was school'. He also spoke to my coach."
That Mumbai run catapulted her into the national limelight. It also brought with it labels of the 'next Sania Mirza' and so on. A brief recap: she converted an unexpected qualifying wildcard — "I was only there for a visa appointment and I didn't know about the wildcard till two days before" — into a run to the semifinals. The run saw her take out three players ranked inside the Top-300 before she lost to the fifth seed Jil Teichmann.
More importantly, the three-main draw earned her maiden WTA ranking points. It also showed her the things she needed to focus on for a seamless transition to seniors. "The need to be physically stronger... Mumbai was a great example as I was very tired in the semis."
The 650-th ranked Maaya hasn't featured in many other senior tournaments. But she knows the enormity of what could be her biggest event till date come the end of October. The second edition of the Chennai Open will likely offer her a main draw wildcard. "I'm excited," she says. "Fingers crossed."
That's how India will look at Maaya in the years to come.
