Indore girl Aishwarya Agarwal trying to make the most of her unorthodox two-handed forehand on the Jr ITF circuitPerhaps, had Aishwarya Agarwal had a coach in tennis’s non-hub Indore, then the 15-year-old would’ve been chided or cajoled into changing what is her freakish manner of holding a racket — she uses two hands on both the forehand and backhand. She picked the habit at an age when she was too small to be able to pick a heavy, full-sized racket. Since she couldn’t access a smaller one, she ended up swinging the grip of the big handle both sides with both hands. In fact, Aishwarya was too young to choose her sport at 5, when her mother - a Boris Becker fan - put her into a tennis camp. Her unorthodox two-handed forehand though remains unchanged ten years down the line, as the teenager receives no formal coaching back home in Indore - where she’s the only girl playing tennis - hitting with boys on the local University team. “It’s so much more comfortable to play double-fisted on both sides, that I don’t think I’ll ever change it,” says the girl, who was born the year Monica Seles saw her power-defined tennis career with its trademark two-handed forehand, being rudely cut short, by the stabbing tragedy. So, Agarwal has grown up not watching many play the way she does, except Marion Bartoli, whose style incidentally was modelled on Seles. There’s the other French freak-presence of Fabrice Santoro, who carries it off with style and to good effect, but for Agarwal there’s precious little to relate to, either on the minor’s circuit that she plays on, or on television.“But the two-hand gives me a little more power on my strokes, though people say it’ll affect my court-reach considerably. But I prefer sticking to it,” she says adamantly while playing at the junior ITF tournament at MSLTA. A Class X student, Agarwal might give tennis-academies a shot next year after her board exams are done. Right now, it’s only the guys to spar with, as playing with boys helps her improve her movements on court, running quicker, hitting harder.The double-fisted strokes are supposed to help create sharp angles (with pounding top-spin) and find more space on the court, and Agarwal does manage to confuse her opponents at times, when they are unsure of which flank to attack, besides having to deal with that extra power. But clutching the grip with both hands also means that her own reach is rather inhibited. “Once they see I’m a second slower at switching, quick-moving opponents make me run all around. But I’ll work on devising counters to it,” says the predominant baseliner. Her own task is cut out - she’d be expected to improve her court-movements exponentially, with the serve and stamina also needing plenty of attention. But without a coach in Indore, Agarwal doesn’t expect much to change till she’s still hanging around in the city, with its little inclination towards tennis. “It’s kinda nice I’m the only girl in Indore playing tennis. But yes, I’ll have to think of an academy if I have to get somewhere in tennis,” she concedes. As a 3-year-old, Aishwarya had managed a freak-feat - she strapped on skates onto her feet, wheeling under a stationary Maruti Car. She’s hoping her unconventional ways on the tennis court also yield some news-worthy results.
