Budding tennis player Hruthik Katakam has been making rapid progress and has impressed none other than former Davis Cupper and Olympian Vishnu Vardhan.
Telangana’s 13-year-old Hruthik is the country’s top-ranked player in the Under-14 boys’ section.
Training under Henry Praveen at his Trinity Challenger academy in Hyderabad, Hruthik caught Vardhan’s attention when he won the singles and doubles titles in back to back AITA National Series Under-16 tournament in his home town earlier this year.
He notched up with a runner-up performance in an Asian Under-14 tournament in May and followed it up with a hat-trick of U-14 titles in the National Series circuit.
“Praveen is a friend of mine and he asked me to have a loot at Hruthik. I have been mentoring him for the past eight months now,” said Vardhan.
“He is already 5’7” in height is only going grow. But what impresses me is that he asks the right questions, he is not a normal 13-year-old.
“He has a natural awareness on court, which is rare for a boy of his age.”
Besides Praveen, Hruthik is also guided by Ramakrishna, who incidentally also coached Vardhan in his early days.
“Ramakrishna used to travel me. He inculcated a lot of moral values in me. So I am sure he would have instilled the same set of values in Hruthik,” Vardhan said.
Hruthik was introduced to tennis by his father Sudharshan.
“I played cricket at the district level and I decided very early on that I will get my son into tennis,” said Sudharshan, who also had a liking for the racquet game.
Having started playing tennis at the age of six, Hruthik made instant impact by performing well in local tournaments in Hyderabad. That prompted his father to seek professional coaching for him.
Last year, Hruthik came up with a strong performance at the Fenesta Open National hard-court championship in Delhi where he qualified for the U-14 main draw and lost to top seed Arnav Paparkar in the quarterfinals.
“Our aim this year is for him to win the U-14 title at both the Fenesta Open and the Nationals in Aurangabad,” the senior Katakam said.
“As the No. 1 player in Under-14, there is a chance for him to be selected for the ATF U-14 tournament in 2024.
“We are also looking at him moving up in the ATF rankings as the top-3 players get to play in the Road To Wimbledon tournament.”
