The Coimbatore girl now lives in the USA, coaches kids and is a television commentator
Nirupama Vaidyanathan
Hyderabad: Nirupama Vaidyanathan, the first Indian woman tennis player to win a round at a Grand Slam back in the late 1990s, wishes she was born in present times, thanks to the facilities at the disposal of current day players as well as the motivation around.
“I grew up during tough days for tennis in the country and was all by myself with no one to look up to. You all have Sania Mirza to draw inspiration from,” the 38-year-old told trainees during an interaction at the NVK Academy in the city on Wednesday.
Nirupama reached the second round of the Australian Open singles in 1998, the same year in which she won the Bangkok Asian Games mixed doubles bronze with Mahesh Bhupathi. The Coimbatore girl now lives in the USA, coaches kids and is a television commentator.
Nirupama, who came up the hard way, advised budding players to “eat, sleep and drink tennis” while stressing on “effort and attitude” as also “be patient, as it takes eight years to become a good player.”
Speaking about her formative years, Nirupama explained that she had set off to Europe when she was just 17 and would travel for 35 weeks of tournaments all alone, struggles that are chronicled in her book The Moon Baller.
She advocates a systematic effort to boost tennis in India. “The top two juniors from each state should be pitted at the national level and the best made to travel with a coach to most of the tournaments. That’s what happens in other countries,” she said.
Nirupama remembers predicting Sania’s recent Wimbledon doubles title. “It was in March at Miami (USA) that I told her father that she would win a Grand Slam this year,” she said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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