Back to where it all began

It was here,as a nine-year-old,when Sunil,brought from Kapurthala,took the first step towards success. The City changed him for the better.

“Chandigarh is almost like a home to me. I am coming back here after almost four to five years. I remember I came here to take part in a Futures tournament last time. I get nostalgic when I come here. I have beautiful memories of the moments that I spent here in Chandigarh,” shared Sunil.

Among those moments,becoming the youngest ever senior national champion by winning the national hard court championship at New Delhi in October 1999 at the age of 16 that made headlines at both the national and international circuit,must still be fresh in his mind. From being labelled as the new wonder kid and dubbed as the new Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati,success came too early for this former CHART trainee.

New wave of success

A new wave of success followed and Sunil,still bemused and basking in the success,was approached by Paes en Sport-the tennis academy run by Leander Paes and his father,Dr Vece Paes. Sunil,born and brought in a middle class family,never looked back once he moved to Kolkata,but never forgot his roots in Chandigarh and continued to seek help from Gary O’Brien,the former Director Coaching of CLTA.

From Davis Cup to the Grand Slams to Futures tournaments,Sunil was virtually everywhere. While his stature continued to grow,the insatiable hunger to play every possible tournament to improve rankings took a toll on his body and Sunil,carrying a back pain,couldn’t regain the fitness and the earlier fame that made him a standout performer.

From a 16-year-old to now a 29-year-old,Sunil still has the desire and the urge to become the best. Unfortunately,age is not on his side. But what he has now is wealth of experience. “Now I play according to experience. I don’t look to hit every shot because I don’t have the power that a young player has. In that situation,I rely on shot selection and place the ball wherever I want to,” he shared.

It nearly took him two years to get over the back pain but he lost out on almost 700 days of tennis and,with that,hundreds of rankings points. From once the World 30 in 2007 in the ATP rankings to his current ranking of 1445,Sunil knows his limitations now. “I cannot travel 30 weeks a year like I used to when I was at the top of my game. I want to play smartly and take part in fewer tournaments and improve my rankings. On hard courts,there is always wear and tear of the knees and the back; so playing in selective tournaments make a lot of sense to me,” Sunil rolled on.

Right now,Sunil knows he cannot afford to slip further. Fitness,according to him,will determine the future course for him. So,yoga and stretching is what he spends most of his time on when he is not playing. Harshul Patel,his coach at Patel Tennis Academy at California,takes care of the rest. In between,he tries to squeeze some time from his busy schedule to be with his parents,who live in a village near Kangra.

“Due to the busy schedule,I meet my parents only once or twice a year. Before coming to Chandigarh,I spent two days with my parents as I was homesick. I had last seen them in January earlier this year. But then this is how the life is for a sportsperson,” quipped Sunil.

Apart from the tournament organised by Indian Oil Corporation,where he works,Sunil will hardly feature in any tournament this year.

After spending some time in California with his coach,Sunil promises to come back fitter and with new vigour in 2013. “The real big tournaments are starting from February next year and I will try to give my best and improve my rankings to World 400 or even better. I am still passionate about tennis and it still gives me a high when I see fans in large numbers coming to cheer you up,” chirped Sunil.