In the fast growing world of Indian tennis, the newly crowned National junior champion Sacchitt Sharrma, promises to impress more with his game.
The six feet three 11th standard student of MM Public School in Pitampura in the city has been coached since childhood by Mohammed Arif Khan. He has the big game that can take him to the top-10 among the world juniors.
"He has a very strong and sharp mind. That helps him win tough matches. His serve has improved a lot after a correction of the swing. He will be playing in an ITF grade-2 tournament in Hong Kong followed by the Asian juniors in Korea," said coach Arif Khan, who trains Sacchitt from 5:30 a.m. every day at his Mastermind Academy.
His doting mother wakes up at least two hours before he hits the first ball on the tennis court. Despite high educational qualifications, she's sacrificed her career to look after Sacchitt's nutrition and tennis.
"It is the matches in the international circuit that will make him better. Training on clay courts, hitting forehand, backhand, serve and drill is like staple food. The progress will come when he plays different types of players and finds a way to beat them, match after match," said Arif Khan.
Sacchitt made his first big impact two years ago when he won the U.K. under-14 championship in Wimbledon, after topping the Road to Wimbledon contest in India. Quite interestingly, the players who had done well before him — Siddhant Banthia and Adil Kalyanpur — have gone on to be the top two juniors in the country.
While Banthia has been able to play the Grand Slams this year, Adil ,who trains in Spain at the Rafael Nadal Academy, has been kept away from the Grand Slams, with a distinct plan for grooming.
Sacchitt will aim to play the Grand Slams next year. For that he has to improve his current rank of 218.
Except Adil, all the juniors ranked above Sacchitt like the Asian junior champion Nitin Kumar Sinha, the 63rd ranked Banthia, Dhruv Sunish figured in a draw of 64 for the National junior championship.
Sacchitt beat the top seed Nitin Sinha 7-5, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and the talented Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy in three sets in the semifinals, after being down 3-5 in the decider.
Abhimanyu, it may be recalled, had won the Rendezvous Roland Garros under-18 event and clinched the French Open junior wild card in Paris this season.
Apart from his numerous achievements at the school level, Sacchitt was also the leading player in the Junior Davis Cup this year. He had earlier represented the country in the World Junior Tennis. Two things will ensure Sacchitt's growth: his physical health and the financial support.
On his part, Sacchitt is ready to play his best, to stay on the road to glory.
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