After five failed attempts to qualify for the main draw of a major tournament, Saketh Myneni finally lived his dream when he qualified for the ongoing US Open.
With an easy 6-3, 6-0 win over Serbian Pedja Krstin in the third and final qualifier, Saketh became the first Indian since Delhi-born Yuki Bhambri to enter the main draw of a Grand Slam and also the first since Somdev Devvarman (2013) to qualify for the US Open main draw.
After storming into the main tournament, winning all three qualifiers without losing a single set, the 28-year-old was just points away from winning his first match in a main draw of a major tournament against World No 49 Jiri Vesely, but to Saketh's agony the same problem which has been bothering him for a while now resurfaced again — cramps.
After splitting the first two sets, Myneni was leading 5-2 in the second before getting cramps, affecting his movement massively on court.
With the Andhra-born player barely staying on the court, all his Czech counterpart had to do was to keep the ball in play and he did just that to close out a narrow 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 5-7 win.
Myneni was clearly a better player on the court last Monday, however his fitness issues lost him an opportunity to play the Serbian World No 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round.
But, the 28-year-old is not completely broke and he still manages to see the light at the end of this dark tunnel.
"I am happy with my performance, but unfortunately fell short in the end. It's not a mental blow," Saketh told the Pioneer from New York in a telephonic interview.
Honestly speaking, Myneni sounded more pleased than disappointed with his opening round loss.
"I wasn't expecting much before the tournament. I tried to win and do the best I could with my family there — cheering me. Now, I want to look at the positives," said the Indian.
There is a reason why the 28-year-old is not totally upset as this was his maiden appearance in the main draw of a major tournament and add to that fact that Saketh did not just lose his one and only match at New York.
He did win three qualifiers - 6-3, 7-5 win over Albano Olivetti in first qualifier, 7-6(6), 6-4 win over Mitchell Krueger in the next round and finally a 6-3, 6-0 drubbing of Krstin in the final qualifier. So no wonder the big serving Indian looks pleased with his time at United States.
Among the many positives, the most important one is having the ability to match the big guys, says Myneni.
"It shows that I can compete with the big guys and stay in the same bracket with them and be in the big league," he added.
Despite all the positives, the obvious worrying sign cannot be ignored as this was the second time in a space of month Saketh encountered similar problem.
Against Korea in the Davis Cup tie in July, Myneni encountered a severe bout of body cramps but managed to win against Yong-Kyu lim.
However, the 28-year-old believes the hot and humid condition at Chandigarh in the Davis Cup tie was different to the conditions at America.
When asked whether the recurrent injury is a worrying sign, Saketh said: "It's not an injury, its cramp and against Korea it was lot more humid."
However, Myneni said he is working on ways to improve his fitness.
"If you lose the salt and minerals, you have to replace them and I couldn't put them back in the body. I am working on that," he explained.
Ranked 143 in the world currently, Saketh's next target is to break into the top-100 barrier.
"I want to play in the main draws and get into top-100 and then the next step is to try and stay there which is the difficult part," he concludes.