World No.222 Ramkumar Ramanathan continued his purple patch at the Antalya Open as he registered another straight-set victory, this time over World No.8 Dominic Thiem – the top seed, thus scripting the biggest upset of the tournament.The Indian, who entered the tournament as a qualifier, had previously defeated Top 70 player Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil in the first round and will now take on 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis at his first ever ATP quarter-final.
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The 22-year old, who was so far in obscurity, has now become a household name in the country and globally. Here are 5 unknown facts about his career.
#5. He has attained a career-high ranking of 196
Ramanathan’s current ranking of 222 is not his career-best ranking. In fact, his career-best ranking is 196, which he attained on 25th July, 2016. At the, time he was the Indian No.2 behind Yuki Bhambri who was ranked 171st in the world back then.Later, his rankings gradually fell to 248th and by the end of the year, he fell down to 273rd in the world. This year, his rankings gradually began to rise during May but he fell below the Top 250 again before rising to World No.222. His quarter-final appearance will definitely lift his ranking and as of now, he can be expected to end the year ranked in the Top 200.
#4. He defeated India’s No.1 in 2014
Ramanathan qualified for the 2014 Chennai Open and in the first round, he was up against Somdev Devvarman who was quite a popular name in Indian tennis at the time and was ranked 93rd in the world, thus being the highest ranked Indian.Devvarman won the first set 6-4 but 19-year old Ramanathan rallied back to win the second set 6-3 before scripting a huge upset by winning the third set 6-4 to qualify for the next round. Ramanathan was defeated by 6th seed and eventual semi-finalist Marcel Granollers in the second round.
#3. He has never crossed qualifying at a Grand Slam
Not only is Ramanathan yet to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam but he is also yet to reach the final qualifying round of any Grand Slam. Ramanathan’s best performance at the Grand Slam qualifying has been reaching the second round at the French Open and US Open in 2015 and the Wimbledon in 2016.The closest that the 6ft 2in Indian came to reach the qualifying competition of a Grand Slam was during the 2015 qualifiers when he lost to Argentine Facundo Bagnis in three sets. Ramanathan defeated Portuguese Pedro Sousa in the first round and lost the first set against Bagnis but rebounded to win the second set 6-2.
He gave the Argentine a tough fight in the third set but the latter edged him in the tiebreak 7-4.
#2. He has 16 titles on the ITF Crircuit
Ramkumar Ramanathan has being playing on the ITF circuit since 2011 and reached his first ever ITF final in 2012 at the India F16 tournament where he was beaten by compatriot Sanam Singh. The Chennai boy won his first ITF tournament in 2013 at the India F11 tournament where he defeated South Korea’s Duckhee Lee in the final in three sets.Since 2013, Ramanathan has won at least two ITF titles in every year with 2014 being his most successful year on the ITF circuit where he won five tournaments. The youngster went on to win four titles in 2015 followed by three titles in 2016 and has so far won two ITF titles this year with both of those wins coming in Singapore.
#1. Ramanathan is currently ranked 228th in Doubles
Ramanathan began his Doubles career in 2011 with a ranking of 974. He continued to stay in the 900s before reaching up to 774th in July 2012. However, his ranking fell down below 850 later that year and he continued to stay in the Top 800 till June 2013 when he broke into the Top 700 of the ATP Doubles rankings.Ramanathan broke into the Top 500 of the Doubles rankings during the end of the 2013 season before attaining a then all-time high of 323 in January 2014. The Chennai-born Barcelona resident broke into the Top 300 for the first time in 2014 before his rankings fell below 300 in early 2015.He entered the Top 250 of the Doubles rankings for the first time in 2015 and is currently ranked 228th in the world in the Doubles circuit with his all-time highest Doubles ranking being 219th which he attained last November.
