Fitness priority for Jeevan
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
Having played in all the four junior Grand Slams, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan is now creating ripples on the ITF senior circuit.
After clinching the national championship this month, the Chennai lad went on to win the ITF Futures title in Mumbai last week.
This was Jeevan’s fourth Futures win in two years, the earlier ones being at Pune, Kolkata (2011) and Madurai (April, 2012) .
The 24-year-old, who returned to tennis after a long lay-off due to multiple injuries in August-September 2012, won the Mumbai final in just over an hour.
“I took advantage of my opponent’s nervousness, quickened the pace of the rallies to make him commit unforced errors,” Jeevan said.
Jeevan twisted his ankle in the Gandhinagar Futures in August before tearing a stomach muscle at a Futures event in Iran that put him out for a month in September.
Not ready to give up, a determined Jeevan now wants to improve his rankings and has set his eyes on the Pune Futures title, that is under way this week.
“I just want to stay healthy and playing more and more ITF Futures and ATP tournaments in order to improve my ranking,” the 398th ranked Jeevan said.
Grandson of veteran Tamil Nadu politician V.R. Nenduchezhiyan, Jeevan was expected to go the family way.
“I was always interested in sports. I was into athletics and like sprinting alot. There is no plan to join politics right now... Only time will tell,” said Jeevan, who has four titles in as many final appearances in Futures events.
At the recently-concluded nationals in the capital, Jeevan lived up to his top billing.
“Coming in as the top seed I knew I had a good chance. But my goal was to stay healthy and complete the tournament without my chronic muscle problem coming up,” he said.
A graduate from the University of Washington, Jeevan was an active tennis player in his college days and also ranked as high as no. 9 in the ITF junior rankings.
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