Five things to know about India's rising tennis sensation Karman Kaur Thandi

They say childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day.17-year-old Karman Kaur Thandi is proving that saying right. Ever since her incredible feat of winning the U-16 WTA Futures Star in Singapore in 2014, she hasn’t looked back. In an incredible past 12 months, Thandi has reached three $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) finals, while qualifying for another three $25,000 tournaments.Currently ranked 47th in the juniors category, Karman has already developed a habit of defeating higher ranked players. A confident strokeplayer with a composed brain, the teenager has all the attributes of making it big.In a period where India is looking at the next superstar after Sania Mirza, Karman and the current crop of junior players are raising the bar of expectations. Here are five things you should know about her:

#1 Playing since she was 8!

Karman being felicitated by Ryan International School, New Delhi ( Courtesy:Ryan International School New Delhi facebook page)

Karman was introduced to tennis at the age of 8 by her parents. Interviewed by the BBC after her win in the WTA Futures Star, she said, “The love for the game drives me to play the game.” A student of Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, she was introduced to the game by Vinod Kumar.

Later, it was tennis coach Aditya Sachdeva who groomed Karman to be a world class player. “When she came to me five years ago, I saw a talented girl who was determined and willing to work hard. As Bob Brett told me long ago, talent is all about learning and implementing the lessons. Karman has that talent to implement,” Sachdeva told The Hindu.

#2 WTA Futures Star 2014

Thandi won the first ever WTA Futures Star trophy this year

After an incredible set of seven wins – five matches in the league stage and two in the knockouts – Thandi finished with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Hsiang-Wen Huang of Chinese Taipei in the girls’ under-16 final of the WTA Future Stars tennis event. Coached by former Indian player Rushmi Chakravarthi, Thandi said of her win, “It was very nice playing on this court. It was a good experience.”

In the final, the youngster bounced back from a slow start, when she trailed 2-4, to outplay her Taipei opponent – whom she had beaten in the last league match. Incidentally, she did not drop a set in the whole tournament, which truly portrayed her domination.

#3 Won an ITF tournament in Germany

Thandi won top prize at the ITF Juniors in Offenbach, Germany

Thandi’s win at the 23rd International Junior Tournament of Offenbach further bolstered her confidence and enriched her experience at the international level. It was five days before the tournament in Offenbach, Germany that Karman started working with the experts of the Tennis University on the nuances of playing on clay.

“I am basically a fast hard court player and train on hard courts. When I landed in Europe for clay court tournaments, it was difficult to adapt. The coaches at Schuttler Waske Tennis University worked with me for five days and I was improving every day. Even during the tournament, I was taught some serve variations which I was able to use to good effect,” said the youngster, who was supported by coach Bastian Suwanprateep.

This is also the centre at which former World No. 2 Tommy Haas trains, and so do current World No. 24 Andrea Petkovic and former No. 8 Jurgen Melzer. The centre took Germany’s Angelique Kerber from World No. 107 to a top 10 player.

#4 Impressive run at US Open Juniors

Thandi at the US Open 2015

After reaching the round of 16 and the semi-finals in two back-to-back Grade I tournaments in the USA and Canada, Thandi put up a splendid display at the US Open. With a world junior ranking of 89 at the start of the tournament, Thandi defeated the 16th seed and World Number 20 Katharina Hobgarski in the first round of the Junior Girls’ Singles category. Next up in the second round, Thandi kept her nerve to beat World No. 28 Evgeniya Levashova to proceed to the pre-quarterfinals.

Her third round opponent posed her a stiffer test. Thandi faced off against Dalma Galfi, the second best junior tennis player in the world by ranking. After losing the first set, Thandi led 6-5 in the second set before Galfi came back swinging to force a tie-breaker, which she ultimately went on to win.

Despite the loss, Thandi has every reason to be proud of herself – it’s not often that a tennis player from India defeats two higher-ranked opponents in back-to-back matches in a Grand Slam.

#5 Winner at recent ITF Tournaments

She finished runner-up at the ITF Indore

Thandi won the $10k ITF doubles title at Kalaburgi along with Dhruti Venugopal. She ended as the runner-up in both singles and doubles at the ITF Women’s tournament in Indore. In the singles category, she lost after a tough three-setter with Anastasia Vasylyeva.

But this is just the start of a long journey for her. Because of her higher ranking, Thandi can now participate in all four Grand Slams next year and will be looking to continue her giant-killing antics.

From a world ranking of 795, her aim will be to break into the top 400 or even top 300 by the end of 2016.