Out of the 3 tournaments he performed this January, Sidharth Rawat, the Indian No. 6 in singles, completed runner-up in back-to-back ITF occasions in Jakarta after exiting from the outlet qualifying around of the ATP 250 Pune. The two excellent finishes boosted the boldness of the 29-year-old however he failed to provoke within the following 3 Challenger occasions at house, making first-round exits in they all in February.
The Delhi professional used to be anticipated to money in at the house stipulations, particularly at the onerous courts of the RK Khanna Tennis Complex the place he performed the ITF $25K Men’s Open in New Delhi remaining week. However, he made a second-round go out there too, shedding to eventual finalist Yusuke Takahashi of Japan in immediately units.
Every week after that loss, Rawat is looking for a contemporary get started in his quest to search out luck with an outstanding display within the Lucknow leg of the ITF $25K males’s excursion. The match beginning on Tuesday on the Ekana Sportz City additionally marks the release of the global usual tennis amenities right here. The Lucknow tournament is adopted by way of two extra ITF tournaments in Mysuru and Chennai.
“Yes, I want to start afresh. I enjoy my tennis on a hard court and here the facility is of top quality,” said Rawat after hitting some crisp volleys at the newly-developed facility for almost an hour on Monday. “The field is tough but I am going to enjoy my game here,” he added.
Rawat, ranked 596 in singles, mentioned such occasions at house give considerable alternatives for Indians to reinforce their international score and get access into ATP Challenger occasions by way of amassing issues in ITF tournaments. “There are hardly 4-5 such events in the domestic circuit and if we get more events, it would be helpful to us in improving our world ranking,” Rawat mentioned.
Rawat, who had a function of turning into an IAS officer ever since he used to be 18, admitted that he used to be discovered short of within the 3 back-to-back house Challengers in spite of the 2 ultimate outings within the ITF occasions in Jakarta. “Challenger events are different from the ITF and I realized that my planning wasn’t that good. But, I am looking forward to a good start here at Lucknow and taking that into Mysore and Chennai.”
Rawat is amongst six Indians who’ve been given direct access into the singles major draw right here. Others come with India no. 2 Sasikumar Mukund, Digvijay Pratap Singh, SD Prajwal Dev, Manish Sureshkumar and Niki Poonacha. Tamil Nadu’s Poonacha, who performs his first-round fit towards compatriot Manish on Tuesday right here, used to be the best-performing Indian in New Delhi remaining week. The 27-year-old misplaced to Japan’s Takahashi within the semi-finals in immediately units.
“Players like him have the potential to do well here in Lucknow. Indian players need to win matches and points and become sharper when they go for the Challengers. This is the perfect opportunity for them to make use of the home advantage and fare well,” mentioned trainer Vijay Pathak.
TOURNAMENT SEEDING:
Singles: 1-Nam Hoang Ly (VIE); 2-Oliver Crawford (USA), 3-Evgeny Donskoy (RUS), 4-Vladyslav Orlov (UKR); Sasikumar Mukund (IND); 6-Arthur Weber (FRA); 7-Eric Vanshelbolm (UKR); 8- Shuichi Sekguchi (JPN).