Indian Davis Cup junior Garvit Batra was named as one of the two youngsters in the Delhi franchise for the recently concluded Champions Tennis league (CTl) where the capital team lost out to Pune Marathas in the final. Another was Vidit Vaghela, representing Punjab, who aims to break into the top 1000 of the ATP Tour in 2015.
According to the format, two juniors — one boy and one girl, were named in each of the six city franchises aiming to give youngsters a chance to experience and learn from professional players and the legends in their respective teams.
The fold of players boasted of the likes of Feliciano lopez (World No 14), Kevin Anderson (World No 16), Tommy Robredo (World No 17) in men's; Agnieszka Radwanka (World No 6), Jelena Jankowic (World No 15), Venus Williams (World No 18) and Garbine Muguruza (World No 20) in the ladies side of things.
Vijay Amritraj, the brains behind the competition, attributed the Indian youngsters element to be the difference between his league and the ongoing International Premier Tennis league (IPTl) which has accrued the crème de la crème of tennis. Before the start, he pressed on the youngsters to take this opportunity which wasn’t presented to him when he was growing up.
Both Batra and Vaghela grabbed this opportunity with both hands. Batra, a Delhi boy, felt ecstatic when the call from All India Tennis Association (AITA) came through.
“It was a good experience. You don't always get such a chance to play with someone like (Juan Carlos) Ferrero or (Kevin) Anderson. Ferrero has been one of my favourite players and to be in his team was very exciting,” Batra said.
Getting to things on the court, both the players had much to take away from the competition and incorporate into their game. “Kevin gave me tips on improving my serve. He told me to toss the ball a little higher on the first serve as it would give me more time for the jump and also recommended I hit through the ball on the second serve,” said Batra.
Vaghela meanwhile took in bits and pieces from everyone. “I learnt on improving my serve and volley game from leander, passing and movement from Somdev and fitness from Garbine.
“I practiced quite a lot with her and worked on my physical fitness. I would get to practice with her for an hour and a half or two hours at times. I was also told by Mark Woodforde (part of the famous 'Woodies' pair) to 'look at Robredo's game and try to learn from it because I have a good forehand and serve' which was appreciated.”