Almost two months ago, Ramkumar Ramanathan, a 22-year-old Indian tennis player, defeated world number eight Dominic Thiem at the Antalya Open in Turkey, recording his biggest win to date. While he did not advance past the quarterfinals, the young athlete demonstrated to the world that on their day, Indian players could outperform even the best names in the game.
Now, let’s take a journey down memory lane and look back at five of India’s best international individual performances.
Leander Paes
Leander Paes, a Davis Cup star and arguably India’s most famous tennis player, is a doubles specialist who ranks second only to Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli in terms of doubles wins. He also ranks fourth in terms of total victories across all formats. Paes defeated then-world number seven Goran Ivanisevic in a Davis Cup match between India and Croatia in 1995. Paes, who was ranked 123 at the time, came back from two sets down to beat the Croatian in a thrilling match that filled his countrymen with pride.
Ramanathan Krishnan
Before Paes and Saina became tennis icons, Ramanathan Krishnan was the country’s face of the sport. In one of his most memorable matches, he defeated reigning Australian Open champion Roy Emerson in Wimbledon 1961 to advance to the tournament’s semifinals for the second time in a row.
Somdev Devvarman
Somdev Devvarman, the country’s number one at the time, defeated Juan Martin del Potro, the then-World No. 5 and previous US Open winner, in the first round of the ATP Open Dubai in 2014. At the time, Somdev was rated 78th in the world. The Indian Tennis Player won the tie-break in the first set, 7-6(3), but the match was called off after that because Potro’s wrist injury flared up, and he had to withdraw.
Ramesh Krishnan
Ramesh Krishnan of India defeated world number one Mats Wilander of Sweden 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 in the second round of the Australian Open, leaving the world’s top-ranked player contemplating retirement. His other major accomplishments include reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1986 and the US Open in 1981 and 1987. In 1987, he was a major player on the Indian Davis Cup team, which reached the final. Ramesh and Leander Paes reached the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona two years, before retiring.
Source- blog.playo.co
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