‘Manas Dhamne is going to be the torch-bearer for Indian tennis in the years to come’: Gaurav Natekar

India may not have any singles player in the main draw or the qualifiers at the 2023 Australian Open, a forgettable first in six years, but the nation will have six promising future stars in the Juniors singles draw, hoping to become the first from India to win a junior title at a major since Yuki Bhambri’s feat at the Melbourne Park in 2009. Manas Dhamne will certainly be the cynosure for India, after having impressed in his maiden ATP main draw appearance at the Tata Open Maharashtra earlier this month. And despite a loss in straight sets to 107-ranked Michael Mmoh, former India tennis player Gaurav Natekar was thoroughly impressed with the 15-year-old, predicting that he will be the “torch-bearer for Indian tennis” in the future.

Playing his first ever ATP match, by virtue of being handed a wildcard by the organisers, on the centre court, with the crowd behind him and against an opponent who has the experience of playing at the Grand Slam level, Manas showed absolutely no nerve. What impressed the viewers was his fearless brand of tennis which helped him bounce back from 1-5 down in the second set to break serve and make it 4-5. He eventually lost 2-6, 4-6.

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Natekar has been a witness to Manas’ rise through the ranks from the early days given that his wife Arati Ponnappa, also a former tennis ace, had mentored the Pune boy for a while and hence believes the reigning junior Asia/Oceania champion has the ability to end India’s gloomy days in singles tennis.

“Manas Dhamne, who is 15 years old. He is from Pune. He was coached a little bit by my wife, who is also an ex-India No.1 player. We saw him play here and he had a very solid first match in Tata Open. He is now training in Italy and managed by IMG and he is obviously doing the right things. Manas is definitely a talent. I just hope that he is able to stay focus. He certainly has got the right team around him. But I would definitely say that Manas is going to be the torch-bearer for Indian tennis in the years to come,” Natekar, who was on commentating duties at the Tata Open, said during a virtual interaction on Wednesday, organised by Sony Sports.

Manas, who is presently 76th in the ITF World Junior Rankings, will make his junior Grand Slam main draw debut in the Australian Open. The Junior singles draw will begin from January 21 onwards.

Further addressing the present state of Indian singles tennis and with no player from the country even in the top 300, Natekar backed Sumit Nagal to be among the first to break into the top 100. Natekar’s comment comes days after Nagal made an impressive return in Tata Open after an injury-laden 2022, albeit in a losing cause.

“I don’t want to pessimistic but I don’t think we even have a single player in the top-300. Sumit Nagal, who is ranked somewhere in 500 and has come out of a long injury layoff, I saw him at the Tata Open and had a good match against Krajinovic. I think if anybody has a chance of climbing fast it is Sumit, provided he stays injury free. But I will be very surprised if anybody this year cracks into the top 100 in singles in India,” he said.

[Watch the LIVE coverage of Australian Open 2023 on Sony Sports Ten 2, Sony Sports Ten 5 (English) & Sony Sports Ten 3 (Hindi) channels starting from 16th January 2023.]