Rajeshwaran Revathi makes her mark in New York as India’s next tennis hope

As the US Open juniors main draw got underway in New York on Sunday, there was plenty of interest around an unseeded 16-year-old foreigner playing out on Court 8. Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, currently ranked No. 54 in the world junior rankings, may not be among the top seeds, but the teenager is already creating a buzz -- both among fans back home in India and within the wider tennis fraternity.

Rajeshwaran Revathi grabbed attention earlier this year with a stirring run from qualifying to the semifinals of the WTA 125K Mumbai Open. Her game, confidence and poise stood out as she defeated three Top 300 players, becoming the first player born in 2009 to reach the semifinals of a WTA 125K event.

Back home in India, a country craving for its next female tennis superstar after the six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Sania Mirza, Rajeshwaran Revathi had been steadily rising up the ranks over the past few years. She racked up several titles on the ITF junior tour to go along with impressive performances on the domestic circuit to make people sit up and notice. 

But it wasn't only those back home who were paying attention to the teenager from the southern Indian city of Coimbatore. Even the folks at the Rafa Nadal Academy noticed her potential and progress, and flew her down to Mallorca for a short stint at the end of last year before offering her a full-time scholarship to train at the Academy.

Since that semifinal run in Mumbai in February, Maaya moved to the Academy and has been training under the supervision of the coaches in Mallorca to fine-tune her game as she prepares to make the critical transition to the pro circuit. At one time, she was watched by the 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal himself, and at several others, she has been guided by Toni Nadal. 

That experience seemed to pay off on Sunday, when she made a winning debut in the US Open junior main draw. Rajeshwaran Revathi battled past China’s Zhang Qian-Wei 7-6, 6-3 in a tight 94-minute contest. In the next round, she faces the tournament’s No. 2 seed, Britain’s Hannah Klugman. And while Rajeshwaran Revathi will be looking to go deep into the draw this week and has publicly spoken about her desire to win a Grand Slam junior title on several occasions, her coach at the Nadal Academy, Joan Bosch, who earlier worked with former world No. 1 Carlos Moya, has different expectations from his charge.

"For sure, all players dream of winning a Grand Slam,” Bosch told wtatennis.com. “However, my expectations are always the same. That is to try and do in the matches what you practice. It doesn't mean that if you do that, you will win. But for sure if you don't do that, you won't win. So we try to focus on what we do in practice day by day, point by point, and let's see. If it goes well, it's enough. If not, then we need to improve even more.”

Regardless of how deep she goes in New York, Rajeshwaran Revathi is fast emerging as one of the brightest young prospects in women’s tennis. With Mirza having blazed the trail for Indian women in the sport, expectations are naturally high -- but at just 16, she already has the talent, support system, and determination to meet them.

As Bosch summed it up: “One of the best things about Maaya is her behavior, attitude, motivation. She truly wants to be good, and she shows it in how she practices. For us as coaches, it’s a pleasure to work with someone like that. Physically she is strong, her footwork is excellent, she hits with great speed, and she has so much talent in different areas of the game. Now, we just need to make it happen.”