Davis debut hope after retirement thoughts

A reporter informed Sidharth Rawat (in pic) that he’d made India’s squad for their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan.
Davis debut hope after retirement thoughts

CHENNAI: A reporter informed Sidharth Rawat (in pic) that he’d made India’s squad for their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan. But the player didn’t want to get carried away. “Oh. Anyway. I will wait for the official email.” When it did land from the office of All India Tennis Association (AITA), the 26-year-old felt “happy”. Rightfully so. 

It’s been some year for the Delhiite, who went into 2019 “feeling immense pressure” because of International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) decision to restructure the lowest level of the game: removing ranking points for $15,000 events and introducing ITF ranking points, among other things. Even though they have tweaked a few of the rules after listening to concerns, the early part of the season was “chaos”, according to Rawat. “It was bad. Very bad. Because of the points system, I wasn’t getting into Challengers at all.”  

However, the chaos and pressure helped him in a way. After slogging for nearly 10 years at the sport’s lowest level, Rawat won his maiden title, a $25,000 event in Nonthaburi (Thailand) in June.
“There was so much pressure on me to deliver. I had no option but to go full on because of the new rules. To be honest, that helped me because I ended up winning in Thailand.”
The tweaking of the new rules meant the five ranking points he got quadrupled to 20. A ranking jump — from World No 516 in May to a  high of 430 in July — followed. 

Even though he has slipped (517) now, Rawat is in a much better space than at the start of 2019. In fact, he was contemplating his immediate future at the Chennai Challenger in  February. “If you see it that (looking at alternative careers) way, more people might have to make that call,” he’d said then. There is a significant change in his tone now. “The slight tweak to the rules has made my world a lot easier.” Cut to the present. Rawat, who lost to Brydan Klein in the ongoing Pune Challenger’s Round of 32, is looking forward to playing Pakistan. “I could make my debut. I don’t know. I am just excited to be a part of the trip.” Rawat is a reserve player at the moment. Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal are expected to play the singles ties, with Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes forming the doubles team. But Rawat is aware that these kinds of opportunities only come around once or twice. And the challenge is easier said than done. In the eight-member team, Rawat is the only one to not have played a single match at the World Tour level — including qualifiers — since 2015. 

Rawat wants to correct that in 2020. Crucially, he believes his new style can take him to those heights. “I used to grind my way through points. But my coach (Gaurav Sharma) recommended that I become a bit more aggressive.” Earlier, he used to just wait for opponents to make mistakes. He is now more than willing to finish points off early. 

Believing in an idea is one thing. Executing it is a different beast. It is in this context that India No 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran, his good friend, played a role. “He used to grind earlier. He is more attacking these days. The results are there for all to see.” It worked for Gunneswaran. Even though these are early days, it seems to be working for Rawat too. 

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The New Indian Express
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