Karnataka’s decade-long drought in the National Under-12 tennis championship ended when 11-year-old Puneeth M. of Bengaluru won the title at Mumbai recently. In fact, the youngster scored a double triumph by winning both the singles and doubles titles. The icing on the cake was being ranked Number 1 in the Under-12 category with 887.25 points.
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Early start
Puneeth began playing tennis at the age of four after watching his older brother Diganth. First, he enrolled in a summer camp and later joined the Transform Tennis Academy. After seeing his progress, his mother Namratha, an IT professional, quit her career to focus on him. Prashanth Selvaraj, Puneeth’s mentor at the Transform Tennis Academy, explains how Puneeth prepared for the national championship. ”We planned in advance and gave him an effective schedule consisting of two weeks of tournaments followed by two weeks of training. We also gave him enough time to recover after a taxing schedule. Whenever Puneeth played tournaments, we made it a point to video record his matches so that we could work on refining his game and find areas for improvement. Puneeth’s doubles play was never in doubt because he had won 15 out of 18 that he played along with his regular partner Yuvaan Garg of Noida. They have remained unbeaten in doubles thus far.”
Puneeth M from Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The team also worked on the various probabilities that Puneeth may have to face in a match; “such as how to close a game when leading 40-0 or to come back from a tough situation when he is down 0-40 and how to win matches and the set when the score is tied at five-all.” Further, they analysed his opponents’ games, “strategised his games and kept Puneeth focussed on winning,” said Selvaraj, adding that Puneeth is very agile and uses volleys and slices effectively. “He is very good at returning serve but his biggest asset was his serve.”
Going forward
Selvaraj has a clear-cut agenda for the future and wants Puneeth to play in a international junior events like the Orange Bowl. The ultimate aim is to have him play in Junior Grand Slams. The team at the academy, comprising founder Kishore Srinivasan, conditioning coach Karthik Kathirvelan, senior coach Praveen Raj and Selvaraj, hope that Puneeth’s win will inspire other children both at their academy and at other centres to emulate his feat.