MUMBAI: She became the first Indian tennis player to win a medal at the Asian Games when she bagged a bronze at the Jakarta & Palembang Games in 2018, and this time, India's numero uno tennis player Ankita Raina is aiming to "change the colour" of her medal at Hangzhou 2022 in September-October.
"If you see the history of the Asian Games, we've performed very well in other sports. We've won a lot of medals in them. The Asian Games are very important, big in India. So, the pressure that comes while playing in them is of a different level. The atmosphere at the Asian Games is completely different compared to that while playing in the ITF circuit. I won a bronze at Palembang, and played in the 2014 Incheon Games too. So, I've a bit more experience. I'll try to change the colour of my medal this time," Raina told TOI on Saturday on the sidelines of a special screening of the Wimbledon final in the city by the tournament's organisers.
Explaining why she was confident about bettering the colour of her medal in China, the Pune-based Raina, who was set to depart for Europe to play in various tournaments, said, "By God's grace, I've the quality of perseverance. Last year, I was struck with covid, and my ranking dropped, and I couldn't compete at the slams. This year, I've been playing for six months on the Tour, with the help of my team and sponsors. I've got back into the top 200, and am back playing in the Slams. I believe that you've to stick to your process."
Besides singles, Raina is also upbeat about her chances of winning a medal in the women's doubles category. "I've played a few tournaments in recent years with Rutuja (Bhosale) and Prarthana (Thombare) in doubles. Our performance was good. Prarthana has played in the Asian Games and Olympics before, and was my doubles partner in the Asian Games last time. So, you'll see us building us well for the Asian Games," Raina asserted.
Spelling out which countries could challenge for the medals in the Asian Games tennis competition, Raina, who has regularly been India's No 1 in both singles and doubles in 2018, said, "China, Thailand, Japan, Kazakhstan have all good players. Uzbekistan had good players at one point in time, though I'm not sure about their present status. However, I've played against players from these countries over the years on the circuit. I know their game. As I said, I've the experience of playing in the Asian Games, which is different to playing on the ITF circuit. It will help me."
'Need a change in mindset'
While India's Rohan Bopanna, at the age of 43, creditably made it to the semifinals of the men's doubles competition at the Wimbledon with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden, comparatively younger Indian players haven't put in impressive performances at the prestigious tournament in recent years. "We need a slight change in mindset. There are a lot of our juniors doing well at the Slams, but during their transition period to the senior level, we find that they're not even in the sport. There can be different factors why that's happening. Obviously, (arranging) finances is a big thing (in professional tennis)," she said.
Explaining her own experience, the 30-year-old admitted that she too took time before making that difficult transition from the junior to the senior level in the sport.
"The most important thing is how you take failure. In tennis, and in sport in general, you're not going to make it overnight. I remember from my experience that even my transition period was very tough, because I did well in the junior competitions, I won the national junior grass court championships at the age of 16 for Under-18s and women. However, it took a while before I started to perform at the senior level in international tennis, in ITF tournaments. Back then, there were a couple of 10,000 dollars ITF events in India. So, I had the opportunity to play in those tournaments back-to-back and get that exposure and experience on the ITF circuit, and slowly started building on that," said Raina.
Her mantra for all the young Indian tennis players coming through the ranks is simple: "You need to enjoy the sport, focus on the process. And as I said, you've to learn to take failures. You can win a Grand Slam today, but tomorrow, you start from round one."
