MUMBAI: It is the end of the season and Purav Raja is making a mad dash to rake up as many ranking points as he can. From Kobe, Japan last week to the Pune Challenger this week to making it in time for the Challenger event in Maia, Portugal, which will mark the final stop on his whirlwind season. Winning in Kobe and Pune may make the near-20 hour trip to Portugal less gruelling, but the road to success remains just as lonely.
“Tennis is already the toughest sport in the world,” said Raja, who claimed the Pune Challenger doubles title with Ramkumar Ramanathan last Sunday. “You are alone. Playing alone, travelling alone, your ranking is independent, you are always scrutinized for you, for what you do. On top of that, there’s the whole financial struggle.”
The struggle gets more real for players from countries like India, which have no structure or system to bring players through. “If I was an Indian parent I am not sure I would put my kid into tennis,” says Raja, 33.“I don’t know if the AITA (All India Tennis Association) knows or wants to know, it’s not my job to tell them anything, but the reality is that players are struggling.
To make a (Kei) Nishikori in India is near impossible. Given the limitations we have, it’s impossible. Prove me wrong. But, whoever we have (playing on the Tour) are miracles of the system. So many have faded away, so many talented players have just left. We don’t have a national tennis centre; we don’t have a financial structure. We have a hundred players, at least, in India today who will fizzle out in the next two years just because they don’t have support. We will never know how good they can be.”
While Raja is a former singles national champion, he was quick to make the decision to earn his bread in tennis through doubles.“The tough part is breaking away and saying I want to only play doubles,” he says.
“A lot of people have this vision that they want to make it in singles but they don’t have a pathway to do so. So then you waste five years, then all of a sudden you want to make it in doubles but you can’t because the ranking’s not there, your body is not holding up. I believe there are kids in our country even today, aged 21-22, who should be focusing on whatever they can do.”
A serve-and-volley proponent, Raja has won two ATP Tour titles in doubles and won more than US$ 500,000 in prize money. The extra ranking points, which he is currently trying to earn, are a boost, but there is some comfort in knowing they are not a necessity anymore.