Youth Incorporated Magazine

ATP, the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits (the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour) has released its latest rankings on Monday.

India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran has achieved a career-high ranking of 80 in the latest ATP rankings. From world No 260 last year, the player has led a remarkable journey in the tennis world. He raised two places to become the sixth highest in terms of singles ranking in the history of Indian tennis.

2018 was a remarkable year for Prajnesh as he secured two Challenger titles, received a bronze medal in the Asian Games, and made his first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam which helped him break into the top 100 recently.

From making it to the main draw of Indian Wells and Miami Open to defeating Nikoloz Basilashvili to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open and rising to rank 81 last month respectively, the player has been getting better with every match. He went on to play at ATP 1000 Tournament for the first time in his career. 

In an interview with Sportstar, he had said, “Reaching the top 100 was my first goal and I want to be in the top-50 at some point this year. I need to do really well to reach that target, so let’s see where it goes.”

The essential role in his achievements is played by his trainer, Christian Bosse and his veteran tennis coach M. Balachandran (fondly called Balu) who has helped him scale greater heights in the game.

Prajnesh has been trained at the Alexander Waske Academy in Germany, where he developed his attacking style of tennis and learned to play fearlessly in the court.

Another Indian on the run is Ramkumar Ramanathan, who dropped 16 spots to slip out of the top 150. He is now at the 157th position.