"I can’t remember not playing tennis", says Sunitha Rao, who
has been playing tennis since she was four years old. Over the years she has
been on a roller coaster ride. She had been called the Indian Promise from USA
when she visited Mumbai in 2002 besting the great Indian hope Sania Mirza, 6-3,
6-3. Presently, she is quite far behind Sania, though still ranked 23rd within
the USA.
Vijay Amritraj too was once a great Indian
hope. In fact his success in the 70’s made tennis very popular in India. He is
also the reason that Sunitha is playing tennis. Her dad, Manohar Rao, grew up in
Madras and like all sports fans of that time followed Vijay Amritraj. Manohar
used to play soccer but had to give it up due to a knee surgery in college. He
had dreams of one of his kids becoming an athlete and encouraged Sunitha to
become a tennis player like Amritraj.
The journey to WTA tour wasn’t without hard work. Tennis
players start at a very young age especially the girls. Most girls start playing
at the age of 4 or 5. Naturally, the parents very much influence the decisions
of these girls. However, sooner or later kids have to embrace the idea
themselves as Sunitha says, "You can take the horse to the water but can’t make
it drink – there is only so far a person will go with some one else’s idea." It
was her father’s idea to start playing tennis at age four but now it is hers.
The journey to WTA tour wasn’t without hard work. Tennis
players start at a very young age especially the girls. Most girls start playing
at the age of 4 or 5. Naturally, the parents very much influence the decisions
of these girls. However, sooner or later kids have to embrace the idea
themselves as Sunitha says, "You can take the horse to the water but can’t make
it drink – there is only so far a person will go with some one else’s idea." It
was her father’s idea to start playing tennis at age four but now it is hers.
Born in New Jersey, Sunitha moved to Florida to train at age
five. As a junior, she was one of the top ranked players and won a National
title and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open Junior Championship. In
2003, she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon Juniors event. 2004 was her
best year when she had a 42-29 record in singles.
There was a time when there weren’t many top ranked Indian women tennis players.
Nirupama Mankad, wife of cricketer Ashok Mankad carried the torch for a long
time. Later Nirupama Sanjeev reached a ranking of 134, highest for an Indian
woman till date. However the last few years have seen the emergence of many
talented Indian girls of high caliber.
These young teenagers and twenty-something are changing the
image of women’s tennis in India. Sania Mirza’s on court exploits and off-court
comments have generated tremendous interest in India making tennis very popular
again. Apart from Sania and Sunitha other Indian girls doing well on the WTA
Tour include 22 year old Shikha Uberoi currently ranked 161 and her sister, 19
year old Neha, ranked 341.
Interestingly Sunitha has beaten all Indian players that she
has played in a tournament. She beat Kavitha Krishnamurthy at Mahwah, NJ in
2000, Sania in Mumbai in 2002, Megha Vakaria in Hyderabad in 2003, Shikha in
Hobart, Australia in 2005 and Neha in Kolkata in 2005.
Sunitha’s mother was brought up in Bangalore and her father
was born in Mangalore so naturally she likes to play in India too, though she
could not go for the Bangalore Open held in February 2006. The last time she
played in India was in the Sunfeast open in Kolkata in September 2005. It was
one of the biggest tennis tournaments in India. Prize money of $175,000 drew
eleven of top 100 WTA players including Anastasia Myskina, Sania Mirza and
Karolina Sprem.
Five players of Indian origin were in the draw – Sania,
Sunitha, Shikha, Neha and Ankita Bhambri. Naturally the spot light was on them.
"Talk about pressure", comments Sunitha who played Neha in the first round.
Playing Neha in front of an Indian crowd was high-pressure, though she beat
Neha. However, the Indians didn’t do well. Ankita and Neha lost in the 1st
round, Sunitha and 3rd seed Sania lost in the 2nd and Shikha lost in the quarter
finals. In doubles unseeded Neha and Shikha lost the finals to the top seed
Russians Myskina and Elena Likhovtseva.
Sunitha is an enthusiastic person bubbling with excitement
who didn’t mind giving an interview standing in freezing temperatures outside
Memphis airport late one evening. She was very apologetic for missing the
interview at an earlier agreed upon time even though it was because of a twelve
hour delay at Ottawa airport due to a snowstorm for the flight to Memphis.
Sunitha’s trip to Saguenay, Canada wasn’t a happy one. She
retired hurt from her first round match with Danielle Brown due to sprained
abdomen muscles and had to skip the next tournament in Memphis. Nevertheless she
went to Memphis to meet with WTA trainers.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is the top professional tennis
circuit for women. More than 1,400 players from 75 nations participate in it. In
2006 it will have 63 events in 35 countries with over $60 million in prize
money. It has some of the best tennis trainers. Since Sunitha could not play in
Memphis she decided to make use of her layoff by getting trainers to evaluate
her and give her a strength training program to help her rehab.
Strength training is something that she has been paying extra
attention to. One of her objectives is to get bigger and stronger. The women’s
tennis has become a power game. The girls are hitting the ball harder and deeper
and the bar is continuously being raised. Sunitha’s game is fast paced too and
when she played in Mumbai in 2002, the scribes noted that her fast-paced,
hard-hitting game was a notch above other Indian players. However, playing with
the top players is still few notches higher, which means she needs to hit the
ball harder and become stronger.
"I think I can do a lot better than I have", she says, when
asked to comment on her career. There is a strong sense of determination in her
voice when she says that. She also has a plan to make it happen. She has made
some recent changes that are making her stronger, faster and more positive. She
has made mental changes regarding how she approaches the game.
By her own admission, Sunitha is a perfectionist – a breed
that typically expects a lot from itself. Perfectionists come down hard on
themselves when they make a mistake, but tennis is a game where one does make
mistakes. Now her approach to the game is much more realistic. She is also
trying to become more aggressive and use her serve as a weapon. She is coming to
net more often as she volleys very well and doesn’t lose many points when she
does it.
Life on the tour could be hectic too. Sunitha usually travels
with some other girls and a coach. She and her doubles partner share the coach
with other girls. Coaching, training and traveling to play in tournaments
involve big expenses too. ITMS, the agency that represents Sunitha puts this
cost to be in the neighborhood of $150,000. Sunitha says that she is in control
of her career and does not depend upon her parents, who run a liquor store
business in Florida and can’t travel much with her. For the records, she says
that she is not allowed near those stores.
For most players on the Tour the winnings normally do not
always cover all expenses. Shortages of funds sometimes limit where they can
play – a reason that prevented Sunitha from going to Bangalore. Securing
sponsorships and endorsements are very important for up and coming players
because the talent can take you only so far and then you have pay for the
airfare, room and board.
There are better things happening in her career too. In 2004,
Pony International, a sports performance brand owned by fellow Indian American
Killick Datta, signed up a three year deal with Sunitha and started to outfit
her with footwear, apparel and accessories. The deal has helped her in many ways
including financial and the fact that now she gets to wear clothes and footwear
specially made for her.
In 2003, ITMS Sports, a German sports marketing agency,
signed up with Sunitha. Started by New Yorker George Pascal, ITMS is a sports
and event marketing firm that represents athletes and does sports event
management. Apart from Sunitha, it represents 22nd ranked Anna-Lena Groenefeld
of Germany, 42nd ranked Anna Smashnova of Israel and Aleksandra Wozniak of
Canada.
Patrick Fischer of ITMS says that they sign up athletes who
have the ability to compete at the highest level and are marketable. Sunitha
fits both these criteria. "Sunitha has great looks to go along with her
personality and a strong head on her shoulder. This image cuts across all
societies and towns, so she can reach out effectively to both the youth and to
women", says Pascal.
The competition to sign up Sunitha was stiff and ITMS
believes that her appeal to sponsors and advertisers is huge. Racquet maker
Babolat recently renewed its contract with Sunitha. She is in company with
players like Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Rafael Nadal, who also use Babolat.
Her newest sponsor is a non-tennis equipment maker – Ativas Development Group
out of Tampa.
All the traveling to different locations, getting sponsorships and
endorsements and playing tennis might seem like lot of fun to people, but it is
like any other job. After 3 hours of practice in the morning, 2 hours in the
afternoon and weight training in the evening, she doesn’t have much time to do
anything else. As she says, "When I am in training it’s an eight-hour day job
and by the time I am done I don’t have time to do anything else, I cook, I eat
and rest. I am quite exhausted. I have no other life."
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