5 min readApr 12, 2025 12:03 AM IST
First published on: Apr 12, 2025 at 12:00 AM IST
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty has just completed 4 wins out of 4 matches for India at the Billie Jean King Cup with her trademark deepset focussed visage, when she goes back in time to how tennis started. The 22-year-old braving sapping heat at the Asia Oceania group stage, while keeping it all together, knows how quickly it all got serious.
“I came into tennis accidentally,” Shrivalli says. The ‘accident’ being, “just to wear all those pretty dresses.” Sure, the towering 5 ft-11 from Hyderabad grew up knowing everything about Sania Mirza’s exploits. But the game gained her obsessive attention as she got immersed in its discipline, the perfection in strokes and a sprinkling of success, including both national titles in singles and doubles in 2023.
Father BRN Prasad, a Chartered accountant, dabbled in karate, and mother B Rajshri was a basketball player. “They never played professionally but I got invested in the sport for health reasons,” says the World No 304, still in the far outer orbits of elite women’s tennis.
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty stepped up to win the first singles against Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland. (MSLTA)
But every time she crosses the Telangana border into Maharashtra, Shrivalli has managed to crack a few good encouraging results. At Mumbai WTA125 last March, Shrivalli beat World No 93 Nao Hibino, days after claiming World No 208 Valentini Grammatikopoulou. She came close to beating World No 199 Madison Inglis in a third set tiebreak at Perth last year, but the circuit has been one right challenge, breaking into Top 250 mighty difficult.
This last week though, she stepped up to win the first singles against Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland (rank 207), Hong Kong’s Hong Yi Cody Wong (rank 213) and Lanlana Tararudee (rank 170), all ranked above her. A cramping injury to Sahaja Yamalapalli, Indian No 1, meant Shrivalli needed to step to play first singles, and she has been compact and consistent in her bearing on court, hitting deep accurate groundstrokes in punishing 40 degree weather conditions, and showing clutch temperament in tricky situations.
“I never thought of it as sudden pressure, having to play first singles. We were prepared for this. My consistency is down to a lot of work,” she explains, of the minimal unforced errors she’s made in Pune, taking quite a shine to the fast whizzing, bouncing ball at dusk. Shrivalli takes pride in Sticking to a routine no matter where in the world she is camped at. “Just wake up early, fitness unfailingly, meditate, be chirpy through the day,” she explains.
At a 2023 tournament in Indore, she strung a few good wins against World Nos 175 Irina Bara and 301 Polina Iatcenko in semis to make finals surprisingly. “When you get to play good players, you get good self-belief,” she says, adding that it’s only in the last two years that the increase in international women’s tournaments by MSLTA (Maharashtra) and KSLTA (Karnataka) have given Indians opportunities to prove their mettle. “We never had these until two years ago when you played at home, in front of your own crowd, eat home food. Constantly travelling in the USA is expensive and if we have to take a travelling coach the finances get strained,” she says.
She continues to pursue CA courses in London, and is candid in admitting that financial struggles in an expensive sport meant progress has been slower.
Shrivalli mentions that the mentoring by captain Vishal Uppal for the last two years has helped her, “I feel connected and he’s travelled with me a lot too so my game improves. He knows my game inside out and we have great coach-ward chemistry,” she says.
A standout feature over the last four days has been how Shrivalli has kept a poker face with opponents melting down all around her due to the soaring temperatures. A fan of Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic, what’s really gotten going for Shrivalli in Pune is her strong serve. There’s a zip to it, variations and she can pull out the big ones almost at will. “My serve is my strength. Here I’m just trusting myself and going for it,” she says, as an average of 7 aces have pulled her out of trouble daily.
Facing a tiebreak in the second set, against a resurgent Joanna Garland, Shrivalli did well to race to match point with another ace. A backhand down the line with a smooth swivel torque, gave her the pleasing pretty 6-3, 7-6 victory.
Indian tennis player Shrivalli Bhamidipaty in action during the Billie Jean King Cup. (MSLTA) 
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty stepped up to win the first singles against Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland. (MSLTA)
Share
