Srinath launches himself with victory at Satellite

Employed by The Indian Oil Corporation, Srinath said before the start of the tournament that he was looking forward to scoring as many points as possible.“The standard is not so good in Asia, which helps in getting points and improving your ranking. This, in turns, helps you avoid the qualifiers when playing in Europe and the US,” said Srinath who plays Satellites in Asia, Europe and the US.

US is the place to be for the Mysore lad, where he trained for some time with US-based Indian Arun Jaitly in Ohio, Cleaveland. Jaitly, explains Srinath, used to work with legendary coach Harry Hopman.

“He is very good and he knows thegame. It will be very useful for me,” said Srinath on his intentions of going back to the States and Jaitly for 2-3 months a year.

Injuries kept him out in 1996 while he got busy with B Com studies in early ’97. He started playing again in May that year with the Western India in Pune and has improved consistently. He hasn’t played much in India recently he hadn’t played in Mumbai for two years but will be here for some time, competing in the Challengers and the Futures.

“Its good to keep travelling, playing. I like to hop and skip from place to place. Even if it gets lonely sometimes as I do most of my travelling alone,” said Srinath, who is considering training in Mumbai and Pune for sometime.

“If you don’t play for two weeks, you lose touch. So you have to keep competing,” he added. The travelling has meant fewer days at home and fewer evenings with his girlfriend in Bangalore. “But at the moment my first priority is tennis,” said the Davis Cupper who started playing at the age of14.

Finances are hard to come by, though he has assistance from a friend in Bangalore. “I make enough to break even from tournaments but finances are a big problem,” said Srinath, who played club tennis in Germany for sometime. He has also rediscovered his love for studying. He would like to do his masters, probably in the US where his brother too is a student. But all that is later.

He has set himself with no fixed destinations, though he would like to see himself ranked 180-200 in two-three years. The highest he got was 440 before injuries delivered a setback. With his ankle is getting back in shape, and a title under his belt, the elegant player with a blistering backhand, is well on his way to the top.