Tournament win fires up Sriram Balani

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N. Sriram Balaji couldn’t have scripted a better ending in the recently concluded MCC-SR Subramaniam ITF Futures tennis tournament. Entering the fray as the fifth seed the odds were stacked against him as he was placed in the same half of the draw as the number one seed Vijayant Malik.

After negotiating the first two rounds without any hiccups, the first real acid test was lurking for Balaji in the last eight when to all intents and purposes it appeared that he had one foot in the exit door.

Trailing Malik by a set and two match points to boot, it seemed as though Balaji’s dream of winning his maiden ITF tournament had come unstuck again after success eluded him in his two previous finals.

But the warrior in him refused to capitulate and came to the fore as he turned the tables on his opponent with a few never before seen shots under intense duress.

“I had nothing to lose. He was expected to win hands-down. But even when I was staring defeat, I was determined not to go down without a fight. I realised that he was being hampered by back spasms and was well aware that I could turn a corner by not giving any cheap points,” said a relieved Balaji.

In the semifinal he was up against a potential banana skin in the form of Mark Vervoort, who had shaken off the tag as an also-ran by knocking out two higher-ranked players in the earlier stages.

In a match that had all the ingredients to be a titanic tussle, Balaji snuffed out Vervoort’s chances by sticking to his game plan of keeping the rallies short and attacking his opponent’s weak backhand.

The final which many thought would be too close to predict however turned out to be a damp squib as Balaji was in the ‘zone’ from the very beginning and went for the jugular at the first possible opportunity to thwart his rival Joss Espasandin’s designs of claiming his first title.

Balaji’s potent first serve held him in good stead and it only got better with each match as in the final alone he served more than 10 aces.

Balaji’s joy knew no bounds following his path-breaking triumph and hoped that this victory would pave the way for many such title winning runs in the future.

''This win has taken the monkey off my back. The title has done my confidence a world of good. I will now be heading to Germany to train under Benjamin Ebrahim Zahid for two weeks. He has had a profound impact on my game. I have made rapid strides in my game and the improvement is there for all to see after I started training under him,” added Balaji.

Dwelling on the objectives he has set for himself, the 22-year-old Balaji nonchalantly said that in the short term he hopes to break into the top 400 of the ATP rankings while in the long run he harbours the ambition of bursting into the top 100.

“My desire is to represent India in the Davis Cup. At this juncture I am focusing all my energies on doing well in singles. Doubles is not my forte. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself as my career is still in its infancy. I will take it one step at a time,” said the unassuming Balaji.

Touching on the topic of the players that he idolised while growing up, Balaji said that he looked up to the doughty Aussie Lleyton Hewitt in his formative years but has now shifted his allegiance to the Swiss maestro Roger Federer.

“Roger’s calm demeanour, the effortless ease with which he goes about dismantling his opponents and last but not the least his elegance is what made me gravitate towards him. I want to emulate him,” concludes the amiable Balaji, whose world is certainly his oyster.