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Ramkumar Ramanathan: Davis Cup will be ‘a moment to remember for me’

Known to have a good serve, the 21-year-old Chennai lad has played at grass courts in European championships including the Wimbledon qualifiers.

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Davis Cup deb utant Ram Kumar during a practice session at Chandigarh Club on Tuesday, Kamleshwar Singh

The last three days have witnessed 21-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan sweat it out under the watchful eyes of former player Anand Amritraj and coach Zeeshan Ali for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against South Korea. The Chennai lad has been included in the team in the singles’ category and will be India’s singles nomination for the match along with Saketh Mayneni.

Currently ranked 217th in the world in the singles’ ranking, Ramkumar is already stepping up to the challenge ahead. “It will be a moment to remember for me as well. I am really happy to be playing for India. It’s a good feeling to be a part of Davis Cup and playing along with players like Leander and Rohan and I am looking forward to it. In singles, there is always a chance to put your team in lead and I hope to do that. All of them in the team have been very supportive and I don’t feel much pressure training with the team. Rohan has been also helping me along with Saketh and we have been discussing a lot about playing conditions as well,” shared Ramkumar, who started playing tennis at the age of five.

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Known to have a good serve, the 21-year-old has played at grass courts in European championships including the Wimbledon qualifiers. Although he lost 6-7, 6-7 to Daniel Brands of Germany in the second round in the qualifiers, the youngster counts this experience as valuable. “Serve is the key for me as it covers half of your game. If you serve well, then you can play according to your game plan. I want to serve well and I have been working on it in last one year. The courts are playing fast and the Korean team will rely heavily on rallies and volleys, so a good serve will hold importance. The conditions have been good and Amritraj sir and Zeeshan sir has also been helping us with tips to play on grass,” shared Ramkumar, who joined the Indian team after playing in ATP Challenger Tournament in Todi, Italy last week.

Currently based in Barcelona, Spain, where he trains, Ramkumar has featured in ATP Challenger tournament apart from tournaments like Chennai Open. This year has also seen Ramkumar winning the Spain F12 Futures Tournament in May apart from reaching the semi-finals of the ATP Samarkand Challenger in Uzbekistan.

“In the last one year, I have been playing a lot of ATP Challengers and other tournaments. I am living in Barcelona since the last five years and training under my coach Juan Balcells and I have been playing in Spain and Europe. It’s always good to be there as everything is under one roof. There are many players to practice with and I get a chance to get to play on different surfaces. Tamil Nadu Tennis Association has been supporting me and helping with my training,” shared Ramkumar.