Match Point

Kadhe is relaxing near the PYC Hindu Gymkhana court,enjoying a break from his hectic schedule. After reaching the quarter-finals of both the singles and doubles at the Gerry Weber Junior Open at Halle,Germany,Kadhe went to England,where he played two near-simultaneous events — reaching the doubles quarter-finals at the Aegon Junior Open at Roehampton and losing a tight qualifier in the Wimbledon boys’ singles to Germany’s Maximilian Marterer,4-6,7-5,6-8.

“It was a tough match,” he says,of his Wimbledon experience. “But the exposure I got was brilliant. I met a lot of big players,got to practice with Leander (Paes) and Sania (Mirza) and Rohan Bopanna. And all the courts,except for centre court,share a locker room,so I got to bump into the likes of Federer and (Novak) Djokovic as well.”

Before this,Kadhe had hardly ever played on grass. “I’ve grown up playing on hard and clay courts,at Deccan and PYC. The first time I played on grass was last year,at the grass court Nationals in Kolkata,but I think it suits my style,” he says. He has moulded his style to his idol — Andy Roddick.

“Ever since I’ve known tennis,I’ve been a big Roddick fan. I like his attitude and his serve,” he says.

“I’m a pretty aggressive player,with a big serve to set up a big forehand. I like to overpower my opponents. But I’m working on my fitness too. I want to make it an all-round game to suit all surfaces.”

For this,the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and Lakshya have been sending him regularly to the Tennis Val academy in Valencia,Spain.

“For the last 3-4 years,I’ve been going there to train for a month,month and a half. Over there,they don’t work too much on your technique as such,but put emphasis on your fitness,” he says.

“And that’s the big thing I need to keep working on. Over there,you train with a lot of good men’s players,and you get pushed to work a lot more. And European clay is slow,so your points don’t finish fast,and you need patience and stamina to last those long rallies.”

It was no surprise,therefore,that Kadhe’s best performance in a Junior Slam so far has been on clay — at this year’s French Open.

Kadhe,who gained direct entry into both the singles and doubles,lost the first round of the singles to Australian Nick Kyrgios,but reached the doubles’ quarter-finals partnering Peruvian Jorge Panta.

On his Peruvuan partner,he says,“This was the first time we had played together. The guy I was supposed to play with backed out as his coach wanted him to play with someone else. So I didn’t have a partner till I happened to meet Jorge. I asked him if he wanted to be my partner,to which he agreed. It turned out to be a good tournament for both of us.” Kadhe and Panta were quick to establish a good rapport.

“He is a good clay court player,has a strong forehand and is consistent from the back,while I am usually the one moving to the net. The best thing is we communicate well,” he quips.

Kadhe,18,is discovering the travails of international tennis. His combined junior ranking is now 87. Not too long ago he had achieved a ranking of 34 — his best in his fledgling career so far.

“Last year,I was the runner-up in Asian Closed Junior Championships at Chennai. This year,I lost a close match in the quarter-finals. So I dropped 40 ranking points,” he signs off.