CHENNAI: At an age when many players think of retiring from professional tennis, Vijay Sundar Prashanth has secured his biggest title at the ATP level. The 37-year-old Vijay Sundar and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, both from Tamil Nadu, won their maiden ATP Tour crown as a pair by overcoming Germany's Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-7 in the Hangzhou Open summit clash on Tuesday.
"I cannot explain in words how I am feeling. We did not expect to win the tournament as we headed into it after taking breaks. Jeevan got married a few days ago and I took a week's rest. We believed in ourselves and that showed on the court," Vijay Sundar told TOI from Hangzhou.
After dropping the first set, the Indian duo rallied to win the encounter in super tiebreak. En route the title, the Indian duo registered two upset victories; defeating second seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash in the quarterfinals and the third-seeded pairing of Robert Galloway and Ariel Behar in the last-four stage. The title victory in Hangzhou will take Jeevan into the top-90 in the world rankings, while Vijay Sundar will move closer to the top-100 mark.
Vijay Sundar, who tasted success in the ATP Challenger-level events last year with Anirudh Chandrasekar, joined hands with the experienced Jeevan in May.
"We (Jeevan and I) have known each other for the last 25 years and grew up playing the sport together. When we did not have our respective partners earlier this year, we spoke to each other and then had a mutual agreement to join forces," Vijay Sundar added.
The pair did not enjoy much success at the start and at one point they lost five first-round matches on the trot on the Challenger circuit. Still, they kept believing in themselves and their work behind the scenes has done the trick.
"When we joined hands, we knew that this was going to be a long partnership. Although we lost a few close matches early, it did not bother us much as we knew that wins were not far away. We did not put pressure on us and waited for the right moment."
The next goal for the Indian pair will be to carry forward the momentum and book a place at the Australian Open next year. Vijay made his Grand Slam debut in Australia earlier this year by partnering Anirudh, while Jeevan could not make it to any of the majors this year. "We will relax till Sunday and then play in a Challenger competition next week. We will head to Europe after that as we have registered for three ATP 250 tournaments. We hope to play in as many competitions as possible and end the season on a high."
