Bhubaneswar, Sept. 28: Ace tennis player Chinmay Pradhan has always been a trendsetter.
He was the first player from the state to reach the finals of All India Tennis Association (AITA) Tournament in 2012 and went on to become the first Odia to win in the singles' category in the next edition of the meet.
Now, he has added another feather to his cap of firsts. Recently, he won his first Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) point, which will help him enter the international circuit.
Chinmay won the ATP point at the India F15 Futures Tournament in Madurai last week by beating Bhavesh Gour (world rank 1,588) of India 1-6,6-3,6-2. Earlier, he beat Garvit Batra in the first round of the qualifiers and Gagan Sharma in the second round of qualifiers.
The youngster with a national rank of 40 attributes his success to his parents P.K. Pradhan and Jyotsnamai Nayak and coach Santosh Kumar Mallik.
"Tennis is an individual game and needs a lot of investment in the player. I'm immensely blessed to have parents who are both doctors but allowed me to pursue my passion. They even went all the way to set up an academy where I practise. Our academy has all the international-standard infrastructure for training," said Chinmay. "When it comes to my game, I owe everything to my coach who keeps inspiring me to continue despite all hardships," he said.
The 23-year-old, however, doesn't believe in the saying that hard work is the key to success. "I feel that it is perseverance that helps you progress. There are times when even after putting a lot of effort the results are not satisfactory. But perseverance has helped me grow from an obese junior tennis player to a pro in the international circuit," said Chinmay.
While many Odia players start off winning titles in junior sections, in the men's or women's singles categories the state offers little competition. It was very different with Chinmay who had won only one single junior title and always felt he couldn't beat his peers. "I was not very athletic and as a teenager suffered from depression. But, in my mind I was determined to hit the bullseye. Tennis being a mental game, it helped me win," said the young player.
In 2013, he lost 15kg in only two months, and with his grit went on to win the AITA men's singles tournament in 2013.
Chinmay wishes to prove that Odisha can produce sports champions even when they train here. "We found out that to train abroad, the expenses would be over Rs 4 lakh every month. We can invest less in Odisha and become better players. The key is to keep playing tournaments within and outside India," said the champ who had been to Egypt in January for a tournament.
"I may not have won there, but it gave me a lot of exposure because former junior US Open champions practised all the time with me," he said.
