Want to be comfortably inside top 100, reveals Prajnesh Gunneswaran

01/18/2019

After an under the first Grand Slam event of his career, Prajnesh Gunneswaran has expressed that his next goal is to get into the top 100 of the of the singles category tennis rankings. Gunneswaran is currently the top-ranked Indian singles player and is ranked 109th in the World.

In his first Grand Slam appearance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran made a first round exit losing to American teenager Frances Tiafoe 7-6, 6-3,6-3. But Gunneshwaran stated that visibility was one of the issues that made life difficult for him on the court although quickly stating that Tiafoe is an amazing player. And rightly so as Tiafoe, who is ranked a lowly 39th in the World, went on to defeat World Number six Kevin Anderson in the very next round.

"Visibility was a definite problem. The time of day we played, there were times I couldn't see the ball at all, and that definitely was an issue. The first set, I almost had Tiafoe, and that match could have gone either way. But Tiafoe is an amazing player, no doubt about it," Gunneshwaran was quoted as saying by Firstpost.

In 2018, Gunneswaran had a good run where he contributed in India's Davis Cup victory over China and defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov at Stuttgart. Despite struggling with his knee in his career the left-hander also won the Kunming Open title. On the back of his recent stint, he had climbed to his best ranking of 104 in December 2018.

"I've been playing my best tennis and my old injuries haven't bothered me as much..I'm 29, that's older than average. If I had been even a couple of years younger, maybe I could have won this match, maybe I could have hit my peak earlier. But having come to this, I wouldn't change anything.

“Sports science, medicine, teams, training and scheduling have contributed to players playing much better tennis for longer. Even something that sounds as simple as better scheduling really helps."

Although the left-hander exited his first Grand Slam in the first round itself, the next target for him will be the French Open although Wimbledon stlll remains is his favourite. Currently, Gunneswaran is preparing for the upcoming Davis Cup for which he has already started preparing.

"My favourite Grand Slam is Wimbledon though. That's the oldest and the most prestigious one that everyone wants to play."