Somdev Devvarman: A formidable force

India’s number one tennis player Somdev Devvarman has once again surprised everyone by defeating last year’s champion and ninth seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov in the 2^nd round of Washington Open. Somdev had ensured his place through the qualifiers, and with this big win, he has reached the pre quarter finals. This is a pretty big event – having a prize money of 17.6 lakh dollars. In his next encounter, Somdev could face America’s John Isner who is the eighth seed. Though it is not fair to predict anything, but as the supporters of Somdev always claim, he is unpredictable and has the capacity to surprise the whole world. He can deliver an amazing outcome on any given day.

Apparently, winning consistently is not easy as Somdev holds only the 129th place in world rankings, which is not great. But in today’s thrilling match, Somdev was in full form and he had just one double fault while his opponent made the same mistake eight times. Somdev took advantage of unforced errors committed by his opponent. In his current form, he seems to be happy and is bubbling with confidence. Many of the fans honestly believe that the upcoming match is going to be very tough, and Somdev will have to give his best in order to make a mark.

A few critics also point out that Somdev has always been inconsistent, but it’s his will power and fighting spirit that has won him many matches. Also, it is not necessarily your own performance that gives you a better ranking, because if players placed above your ranking get defeated, you automatically get a raise. Interesting, is it not? Somdev will have to keep this in mind, that in order to establish him selfin the top 100, a lot of hard work is required.

However, once established, nobody can rule out the thrill, the big prize money, and most importantly, the dedicated fan following coming your way. This is high time Somdev realised that continuous sweat and toil are the key. The celebrity status, endorsements, never ending following by media follow naturally.

Until a few months back, he was holding a world ranking of 140, as against 129th today. But he has also seen a ranking as low as 664 in 2012. He has not been able to maintain consistency ever though he reached the 62^nd rank in 2011. This is also because of his shoulder injury in the year 2012. In fact, he was not seen much of late, till his return this year. But with Paes, Bhupati, Bopanna and Sania Mirza gradually phasing out, Somdev has a definite important role to play in near future.

Now a quick look at the background. He is one of the few Indians who had not only joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association while in college, but was also able to win in the finals thrice, maintaining a record of just one loss and 44 wins. He immediately drew the attention as an uprising star on the Indian circuit. Another interesting factor about this cool and low profile player is that he belongs to the royal Family of Tripura.

A few of his notable achievements include a gold medal in the men’s singles and doubles in 2010 Asian games in China. In the same year, he not only won gold in the Commonwealth games singles event, but was also a part of the team winning the bronze. Also, he is performing fairly well in the Davis cup from the very beginning and his career’s best achievement, so far, is reaching the second round of Wimbledon in the year 2011.

After suffering a shoulder injury, he could not do much in London Olympics and US open, resulting in a drastic fall in his ranking. So he must realise that this is a professional world and you have got to keep yourself fit to sustain a place among the best. Thereafter, during 2013 the only notable development so far has been qualifying for the main draw of French Open,where he was defeated by the legend Roger Federer,6-2,6-1,6-1.

He had reached the semifinals at the Aegon Nottingham Open, which is no mean feat. We sincerely wish him luck, and it will be a great pleasure to see him in the world’s top 50!. He possesses all necessary ingredients – guts, hard work, commitment – and most importantly, temperament. All he needs is a little more focus and to learn to strike at the right moment. I see a glorious path ahead. He is our hope for the future.