BANGALORE: India No. 1 Somdev Devvarman may have fallen short in Johannesburg on Sunday, failing to claim his maiden ATP Tour title. Nevertheless, the soon-to-be 26-year-old managed to seal a top-80 ranking for the first time in his career. The super-fit US-based pro is aiming to climb further, but more importantly, he is first looking to fix the shortcomings in his own game.
"Last week was great for me," Somdev told TOI. "A few areas of my game that need work became apparent to me and we will work on that. This is just the beginning for me. I've been on the Tour for two-and-a-half years now and every week is a learning process. I got broken some 4-5 times in the final and that shouldn't happen in a match. I'm also working on coming onto the net more often."
The South African sojourn saw him net 150 ranking points which saw him take a leap of 30 spots. He had broken into top-100 in August last year but kept floating inside and outside that bracket in the following months.
Somdev, who was gunning to become the first Indian to win a Tour title since Leander Paes in 1998, was playing his second Tour final on Sunday. His first was in Chennai two years ago.
"This week was very different from my final at the Chennai Open in 2009," he said. "There I was playing at home in front of a crowd that was cheering for me. This time I was on the other side, but it was a great experience."
Somdev's American coach Scott McCain said the top-70 would be the Indian's next target as it would make it easier for him to get into Tour events. McCain was all praise for his ward after the Johannesburg run. "Som is playing good," he opined. "He is moving well as always. He is also using his sliced backhand at times and stepping into the court to return serves, especially the second serves. His percentage of points won at net has been really high this week." The American, however, added: "He has yet to play his best match in my eyes though."
Somdev will likely take a break of a couple of weeks before he targets Dubai, after which he'll be in action in India's Davis Cup World Group first-round tie against defending champions Serbia in Novi Sad from March 4 to 6. After the Davis Cup, the Indian will most likely hit the American circuit playing at Indian Wells, Miami and Houston.
Karan Rastogi is the next best Indian singles player ranked at number 328. Meanwhile, reunited partners Mahesh Bhupathi (5) and Leander Paes (6) kept their rankings intact in the doubles chart. Sania Mirza's ranking too was unchanged in both singles (135) and doubles (66). Poojashree Venkatesha is the second-best ranked Indian at number 514, a gain of 20 positions, in the singles chart.
TOI
"Last week was great for me," Somdev told TOI. "A few areas of my game that need work became apparent to me and we will work on that. This is just the beginning for me. I've been on the Tour for two-and-a-half years now and every week is a learning process. I got broken some 4-5 times in the final and that shouldn't happen in a match. I'm also working on coming onto the net more often."
The South African sojourn saw him net 150 ranking points which saw him take a leap of 30 spots. He had broken into top-100 in August last year but kept floating inside and outside that bracket in the following months.
Somdev, who was gunning to become the first Indian to win a Tour title since Leander Paes in 1998, was playing his second Tour final on Sunday. His first was in Chennai two years ago.
"This week was very different from my final at the Chennai Open in 2009," he said. "There I was playing at home in front of a crowd that was cheering for me. This time I was on the other side, but it was a great experience."
Somdev's American coach Scott McCain said the top-70 would be the Indian's next target as it would make it easier for him to get into Tour events. McCain was all praise for his ward after the Johannesburg run. "Som is playing good," he opined. "He is moving well as always. He is also using his sliced backhand at times and stepping into the court to return serves, especially the second serves. His percentage of points won at net has been really high this week." The American, however, added: "He has yet to play his best match in my eyes though."
Somdev will likely take a break of a couple of weeks before he targets Dubai, after which he'll be in action in India's Davis Cup World Group first-round tie against defending champions Serbia in Novi Sad from March 4 to 6. After the Davis Cup, the Indian will most likely hit the American circuit playing at Indian Wells, Miami and Houston.
Karan Rastogi is the next best Indian singles player ranked at number 328. Meanwhile, reunited partners Mahesh Bhupathi (5) and Leander Paes (6) kept their rankings intact in the doubles chart. Sania Mirza's ranking too was unchanged in both singles (135) and doubles (66). Poojashree Venkatesha is the second-best ranked Indian at number 514, a gain of 20 positions, in the singles chart.
TOI
