European Tour

NEW DELHI

The European Tour has been an eye-opener for two of India’s best under-14 tennis players part of the Asian team — Aishwarya Jadhav and Arnav Paparkar.

In three weeks of tournaments in France, the Indian players have struggled to win matches in the main draw.

With the two players set to compete in the World Junior Tennis finals in Prostejov, Czech Repulic, after another week of tournament in Germany, coach Birbal Wadhera, felt that the players were getting better in terms of finding ways to match the Europeans.

“I am happy that the Grand Slam Development Fund is being used to give European exposure to the best Asian players. Arnav and Aishwarya have been quite positive in facing the challenge and trying to adapt to the conditions. They are practising with different players and going through physical fitness sessions, as they are keen to capitalise on the opportunity. The mindset is changing.

“Tactically, there are no issues. But handling the pace of the Europeans who are hitting so hard at the age of 14 and with consistency, is what our players are trying to cope with,” observed Wadhera, who is part of the Asian team with two other coaches from Thailand and Kazakhstan.

The coach felt that both Arnav and Aishwarya needed to work on their speed, agility and other fitness aspects.

“It will help if our players can get regular exposure to such high quality competition. As a coach, I have been able to learn a lot by working with our Asian players and observing the Europeans. I am able to tell them the importance of yoga and meditation,” said Wadhera.

With most of the Indian players learning their basics on the hard courts, Wadhera felt that having a lot of tournaments on clay till the age of 16 could help strengthen the basics for Indian players and help them grow stronger.