Duo nurses slam dreams

While Rutuja was spotted as an eleven year old in Pune by national coach Nandal Bal and was also a part of the Mission 2018 tennis scholarships program,Ratnika has always been based in Delhi and groomed by coach Aditya Sachdeva. Playing the Asian Closed Junior Championships,the highest level of tennis competition at the junior level after junior Grand Slams,the two faced each other in the final,coming through after beating their Thai,Chinese Taipei,Japanese and Hong Kong counterparts. Though Bhosale dominated that event with a 6-1 6-4 win,a friendship struck,determined to follow similar targets.

Their doubles partnership maybe new and yet to test the challenge from ITF women regulars like Rushmi Chakravarthi who has partnered the top seed here for the doubles event,the two are girls are a happy and confident team. Though their games may be contrasting,together,the doubles partners have won everything that there is to win on the national circuit. Rutuja has even gone a step ahead and gotten selected twice in the Asian tennis team,in the U-14 and U-16 categories where she was the only Indian both times.

Ratnika too has her national achievements to boast of,right from winning the gold medal at the National Games in February this year to winning the AITA’s women’s nationals,U-14 and U-16 nationals last year,there is no doubt that the two 15-year-olds are one of the best of the country in their age group.

Now,however,the next step is to make the big leap. Though they have started playing the women’s circuit,getting international acclaim on the junior circuit is an unaccomplished dream. And the route they have set for themselves is the junior Grand Slam. “I missed making the cut for the French junior but hard courts of the US Open are more suited for my game and at world number 115 rank I can make the qualifiers,” Ratnika says. Being a national champion,Ratnika is entitled to the Sports Ministry’s scheme of Rs 5 lakh sports scholarship and has applied for the same. The financial assistance will help her play some preparatory tournaments in the US,where she can get used to both the conditions and the competition at the Slam

Rutuja has a brighter chance here. With 150 points from her Asian Closed Junior Championships title last month,she has jumped to world number 89 and is confident of making the main draw which closes at top-50 players. “This month and the next I’m playing some higher grade ITF juniors so that I can collect more points and since I didnt play them last year,I don’t have points to defend,I can only improve and get better in the rankings,” says Rutuja.