New India No. 1 Karman aims to play in Slams
New Delhi, October 26
Karman Kaur Thandi, India’s new No. 1 woman tennis player, has seen an uptick in her performances. After being ranked as high as 197 in 2018, Karman has had a tough time with injuries that stymied her growth.
The 24-year-old Chandigarh girl has been recovering lost ground. Her triumph in the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Saguenay, Canada, on Sunday helped her jump up 91 places in the WTA rankings. She’s now the world No. 217 and the new India No. 1. She has leapfrogged Ankita Raina, who is ranked No. 297.
Karman, unseeded in the Saguenay tournament, beat Katherine Sebov of Canada 3-6 6-4 6-3 in the final.
Aditya Sachdeva, who has been coaching Karman for close to a decade now, says their main goal is for her to play in the main draw of the Grand Slam tournaments.
“Winning tournaments is always good but it is also the first step towards the main journey. She qualifies to play in the qualifying rounds of the Grand Slams now but we want to be in the main draw,” Sachdeva, the head technical director of the RoundGlass Academy, told The Tribune.
“Right now she is playing in Tier-I and Tier-II tournaments, and soon she will be challenging higher-ranked players in some tournaments. If all goes to plan, we would see her competing at the Slams in a year’s time,” he added.
Sachdeva said a lot of work has gone into helping Karman evolve as a player. One important step was to get a physiotherapist to travel with her, besides making her understand her strengths and areas of improvement.
“We all know she has a big serve and a powerful forehand. The key is to use those weapons at the right time during the three phases of play — in offence, while in neutral and in defence. As for improvement areas, they are always a work in progress,” he said.
