"The Sky is the Limit" - Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi's Lead Coach at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Exclusive

Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi has been a rising young star on the Indian tennis horizon for some time now. But the 15-year-old has exploded on the big stage at this week's WTA 125K L&T Mumbai Open. After receiving a wildcard in the qualifying draw, the 60th-best junior in the world, playing in only her fifth pro event, upset world No. 264 Nicole Fossa Huergo and world No. 434 Jessica Failla in three sets back-to-back to qualify for the main draw.

On Tuesday, Maaya Rajeshwaran, a self-confessed Swiftie fan, continued her dream run at the Cricket Club of India with a 6-4, 6-1 win over world No. 225 Iryna Shymanovich to advance to the second round. The tennis fans in Mumbai are finally seeing what the folks at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain had seen a few months earlier when she offered a one-year contract with the academy of the 22-time Grand Slam champion.

Ahead of her second round match today against Zarina Diyas, we spoke to Miguel Fragoso, the lead coach at the Rafa Nadal Academy who works with the group of players, which includes Maaya Rajeshwaran, where he shares his thoughts on the Indian teenager, her potential, and her second round match against Diyas, among other things.

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Exclusive Interview with Miguel Fragoso, the Lead Coach at the Rafa Nadal Academy where Maaya Rajeshwaran trains

Sportskeeda: Hi, Miguel. Can you tell us about how you got involved in the team of Maaya Rajeshwaran and what is your role at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, where Maaya now trains?

Miguel Fragoso: Yes, at the Academy, we are always looking for the next talent. Rafael Nadal is someone that likes to help the players. We scouted Maaya Rajeshwaran, and we invited them to come for a trial. I met Maaya actually in Sanxenxo last year. She went there to play the J300. She got injured there, but we met, we talked a little bit there. And then we met again at the Academy where we started working.

Maaya Rajeshwaran was happy with the Academy; we were happy with her, and we decided to extend this relationship for a longer term. And then through working with her, I got the opportunity to travel to India with her. We went, and it was lovely. It was a great week there, and she had amazing results. We have started working together since the end of October. We already did a tour in Mexico together. Then she went for a J100 with her mom. And then we did the J300 and the J500 after that together.

She had some good results, some good wins. She has increased her level now during these last few months, and she's doing great now. She won the J300 in New Delhi. In the ITF 75K in Pune last week, she lost against the girl she plays today, but she had good chances in the second set. And now what we are seeing in the WTA 125K L&T Mumbai Open is that she was able to qualify and win the first round, which has been great.

Sportskeeda: When Maaya is at the academy, does she work only with you as a coach? Are there other coaches that kind of work with her as well?

Miguel Fragoso: The Rafa Nadal Academy believes in a group system at this age. With the juniors, we work more as a group, as a team. In the team, there is Joan Bosch, who is the head coach; I am the lead coach; and we also have Polina as a coach, and there are other players in this group as well (Elizara Yaneva, ranked No. 11 in the ITF juniors; Mika Buchnik, junior world No. 20; and Constanza Fernandez, junior world No. 357; and a mix of boys as well).

Sportskeeda: You all must be very pleased with her results this week at the WTA 125K in Mumbai. She's beaten three very highly ranked players on the pro tour. Can you share your thoughts about those three wins? And did it surprise you that she's been able to compete at such a young age with such higher-ranked opposition and beat them as well?

Miguel Fragoso: Look, it's difficult to say if it's a surprise or not a surprise. People there were not expecting these results; not everyone knows Maaya Rajeshwaran well. We know Maaya is very good; we know Maaya has a lot of potential. We know Maaya has great shots and great tennis. Where I see the big difference from Maaya since she started with us is that she's playing a little bit more organized and is a little bit more consistent with her level.

This was something that we talked about a lot in Mexico. the capacity to maintain the same level and she has been playing that level. When Maaya can play at that level, she can play against anyone. She can beat anyone, you know, I have no doubts because what she's been doing is great. She played at a great level in those matches, and it's fantastic how she was able to maintain her mental state and her emotions and keep them controlled. You know, it's not easy when you are young and you are winning against these good players to maintain your emotions because sometimes you even get the set and you go up; when it comes to the moment of truth of closing the set and the match, players sometimes get nervous.

Maaya didn't. She was strong; she was able to play great tennis. On Tuesday, I saw the match. Of course, there was a mistake here and a mistake there. That happens for someone that is so offensive like she is. But I think she played a good match, and we are all very pleased with the level she's playing and I believe we can continue towards that way. That's why we believe in her.

Sportskeeda: When Maaya Rajeshwaran started out at the Academy, what stood out in her game and her personality to you?

Migeul Fragoso: The scouting was done by a person called Natalia. She's the one who scouted Maaya, saw Maaya, and was the one that said, Miguel, you have to come here and see this girl.

When Maaya Rajeshwaran came here, the first thing that impressed me the most was that she's someone super educated, super polite, super respectful, and she works very hard. Because there's many players hitting hard, many players with good shots, moving well on the court. But with her, the first impact when I met them was that she was super polite all the time and listening and trying to execute; not every time we can do it, but trying to execute and giving her best. For me, that's the one thing that stood out about her. Her ability to work hard, her work ethic, and her discipline are, for me that's a great, great strength; not everyone has it.

Sportskeeda: You spoke about education. The players at her age, when they train out there at the Rafa Nadal Academy, do they get to continue their regular education as well, or is it mostly focused around tennis?

Migeul Fragoso: At the Academy itself, we have a school; it's a Rafa Nadal school, and I'll say that 90% of the players here, or more than 90%, they study within the school, which Maaya Rajeshwaran will attend as well. She'll be able to continue her studies. Rafa values education a lot, and so do all of us at the Academy. It's super important to continue that because we never know the future, and everyone needs a plan B. In case for some reason tennis does work out, you have the education, you can go to college abroad, and you can have many options. Hence, we value education, and it's super important that the players can study. The players also have the flexibility to travel around the world to play the tournaments that they need, and Maaya will have that same flexibility.

Sportskeeda: With regards to Maaya Rajeshwaran's schedule, do you all have a plan in terms of playing more juniors at this point, or do her results this week make you think that she could play more tournaments on the pro circuit?

Migeul Fragoso: Yes, when Maaya finishes in India, she's going to come here, and we have three ITF 15Ks here at the Academy, and she's going to play two of them. The plan is very clear for us. Her goal is to play the three remaining junior Grand Slams this year, so hopefully we can play Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Then, of course, we're going to mix it up between the juniors and the pros, but with her age, there are also limitations on the number of pro events she can play, so we will have to balance it out.

Sportskeeda: In India, everyone here has been waiting for the next big women's tennis player after Sania Mirza,, who was top 30 in singles and world No. 1 in doubles. Do you think Maaya Rajeshwaran will be the one to fulfil that void?

Sania Mirza at the 2023 Australian Open- Source: Getty

Miguel Fragoso: You're talking about the top 30 singles and world No. 1 in doubles; you know, it's difficult. Do I believe in Maaya Rajeshwaran? Of course, with my eyes closed, but we never know. I think it's putting too much pressure on the player. Right now, the important thing is that she can keep developing her tennis; she knows that she needs to keep working on her forehand, on her backhand, on her serve, on her mobility, on her decision-making, and on her fitness. There are so many things that we need to keep working on, and then let's see where we can get.

The ambition is high. We want to take Maaya Rajeshwaran as high as we can, and the goal should be to maximize her potential. If her maximum is top 10 singles, brilliant; if top 10 in doubles, that's great too, but we don't know. The focus for me now as a coach is not to see how far she can go, but how much we need to improve, what we need to improve, and to keep working on her strengths on her weaknesses and to get better every day and not look so much at the results.

Of course, we are all super thrilled with her results; we are all happy. But tomorrow, like we told Maaya since the first round of qualifying, we said it's a good win, but tomorrow there's another match, and it's been like this the entire week. Today there's another match, so hopefully she can win, and hopefully, we can say there's another match again tomorrow. In the end, a win is a win; it's a good week; we are all happy. It was the same in New Delhi; it was a good week. We were all super thrilled for her, but it's one week, you know, and it continues; the show continues; it never stops. There's always another tournament, another match, and let's see how far she can go. We believe in her, she believes in herself, and everyone believes in her. The most important thing is that she believes in herself, and we will keep working without thinking so much about how far we can go, because the sky is the limit, right? So we keep going.

Sportskeeda: Your thoughts about her match against Zarina Diyas (former world No. 31 and currently ranked No. 353) today at the WTA L&T Mumbai Open. They played in Pune last week, and Diyas won 6-1, 7-5. Any specific thoughts from that match?

Miguel Fragoso: Last week, Maaya was up in the second set; it was 5-4, 3-0 if I'm not mistaken, and she had her chances. She had moments where she missed a little bit too much and moments she rushed a little bit too much. Last week it was faster courts than this week from what I've seen and from what I've been talking with Maaya. She feels more comfortable on slower hard courts, so it's different conditions already. It's going to be a different match, and if she can manage the important moments of the match well, manage the moments of being more offensive and being less offensive, it's going to be a fun match to watch, and let's see how she can do. I believe she can do well; she believes the same as well. She's going to go and play her tennis, be offensive, try to take the lead in the points, and just make some better decisions from what we did last time, as we missed a little bit too much in some important moments.

Sportskeeda: I know you've known Maaya Rajeshwaran only for a few months. Any kind of funny anecdotes about her that you can share with us?

Miguel Fragoso: As you said, we have started working together. From what I've seen, she's very calm, very relaxed, and she's a funny girl, you know; she likes to have a good laugh, and I think that's important. She's easy to be around, super easy to be around, and she likes to be around the club a lot; she likes to see matches; she's a very nice person to be around. The funny anecdotes, there's not a lot, just a few, which I think will stay between us for now.