Tennis: Mukund Sasikumar - Reluctant, realistic new India ATP ranking No.1

The 25-year-old, ranked 341st in the world, is India's new men's singles No.1 player, but he realizes there is a long way to go.

Sasikumar Mukund is India's new No. 1 men's singles player Facebook/Sasikumar Mukund

Sasikumar Mukund said he was overwhelmed with congratulatory messages when he came to Chennai for a short break. A day later, on Monday, the news was confirmed - the 25-year-old became India's new No. 1 men's singles tennis player according to the Live ATP Rankings.

Mukund was appreciative of his achievement but the world No. 341 refused to be overwhelmed by it.

"It was a pleasant surprise. A small reward for all the hardships this year," Mukund told Scroll.in. "It's still not what I wanted. I would have loved to be in the top 100. It's bittersweet because I know my country has dropped below 300."

This is the first time since 2005 that there is no Indian men's singles player in the top 300 world rankings. And he's not oblivious to the fact that he's becoming the new No. 1, more so than Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Guneswaran falling down the charts, not to mention Mukund himself is rapidly climbing the ranking points.

"There's a natural joy with it, but I'm not shying away from the fact that others have gone down in the rankings, not because I've done well. A lot of them have been injured, there have been a lot of things. But that's small. C happy will go there," he said.

"I don't want to lie to myself. Getting hurt by others helped me become number one.

In September, after a five-year wait, Mukund won his first title at the M25 Futures event in Sintra, Portugal. The 25 ranking points he gained from the event were enough to push him back into the top 400 and give him some much needed confidence – especially after going through a stressful first half of the year.

His first event of the season went better than expected. Mukund started in the qualifiers of a Challenger tournament in Forli, Italy and finished as runner-up. But this happened only after recovering from the Covid-19 infection.

"I later tested negative, but the after-effects continued until July," he explained. "Every month I would get colds, throat infections and it interfered with training. I was always on antibiotics. The body just wasn't the same. Every two or three weeks I was tired and sick."

It didn't help that he made mistakes in choosing the tournaments he wanted to play. At the time, there weren't many hard court challenger events in his playing conditions. Instead, he decided to take risks in events held on clay courts or at high altitudes.

"I should have gone back to the futures because the events there were in good shape," he said.

"I should have taken that step and tried to build some momentum, get some ranking points and make the cut for the Grand Slams. But I played in those tough conditions and it affected the momentum.

“Accepting where I was at my age was not easy. This led to more depression, emotional problems, anxiety... It was hard. I used to go to tournaments, I got fever, I couldn't play well.

However, that all changed when he finally decided to take a step back at the Futures level. This took him to two back-to-back events in Indonesia in August.

"It was difficult for Future to go to Jakarta because the last time I went there I was 18-19 years old and I didn't think I would be back there at 25," he said. "But I accepted the fact that I had to start over and I did. I made the semi-finals there, then the final and things started to look up."

'Tennis wasn't love at first sight'

She has now accomplished one of the goals she and her family set when her tennis journey began two decades ago. Mukund recalls the time when he was just four years old when his father inspired him to take up individual sports while his family lived in Kolkata. But he insists it took him a while to like the game.

"I wasn't the best on the staff and I wasn't the most enthusiastic of the kids. It wasn't love at first sight - I sometimes wonder if I'm in love. But once I started competing and the tournament crowd got hooked, I started enjoying it. I took

"I was about 13-14 years old, a fat kid in Spain, when I told myself that there is no point in being like this. If I want to be professional, I have to be physically fit. I knew that eventually I had to. Do something with my life. , so I thought I could do it through tennis."

He came from a family where tennis was not really a favorite sport. This is one way in which he can make a difference.

"My parents wanted me to do something different, to have a career that was unique and something to do with pride and everything else," he said.

"Acting and music will be required

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FAQ

Who is the current top Indian in the ATP men's singles rankings?

Prajnesh Guneswaran is the only player on this list who is in the top 100 in the ATP rankings. Moreover, he has also played in the main draw of four major Grand Slams.

Who is the male goat of tennis?

Only one person has achieved the architectural grail of tennis – the calendar year grand slam. Australian Rodgers won four titles during the 1969 Open era – the Australian Open, Friends Open, Mumbledon and the US Open – and the Weekend Lever Cup is named for a member of this feat.

Who is the number 1 tennis player of 2022?

Fourth-round exits to Rafael Nadal and current world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev at the 2022 US Open have opened the door for Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Rudd to claim ATP Tour numbers.

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