Mohit wants to make it count as pro

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Mohit Mayur’s blossoming tennis career has reached a pivotal stage. As the 18-year-old Chennai boy is counting his last few months as a junior, an uphill journey awaits him when he turns full-time professional.

The youngster, in fact, is already feeling the heat. Mohit went down fighting to eighth seed James Marsalek of Great Briton in the second round of the ITF Futures on Wednesday.

With three more Futures events (Pune, Delhi and Kolkata) scheduled to be held in the coming weeks, Mohit has set his sights on raking up more points.

“I wasn’t so pleased with the way my junior career panned out. People expected a lot more from me and given my father’s financial struggle in fuelling my tennis dream, my performance was a disappointment. But I am ready to make amends now,” said the bi-spectacled boy.

A couple of years back when his father Jayaprakash was struggling to make ends meet, Mohit was on the verge of quitting tennis.

But Tamil Nadu Tennis Association’s Advanced Players Programme came as a godsend for the youngster. After being inducted into the programme, Mohit spent most of his time in the last two seasons training at the Alexander Waske Tennis University in Frankfurt and Sanchez-Casal Academy in Spain

C.B.N Reddy, secretary of the TNTA, says Mohit has justified the association’s confidence. “The European stint has made a sea change in his approach. Mohit’s fitness has also improved.

He played a lot of local tournaments in Germany and trained with big names such as former World No.5 Rainer Schuettler. He returned home as a different player,” said Mr Reddy.

Upon his return, Mohit made it to the semifinal of the senior national and finished runner-up in the junior events. “I was leading 5-1 when I sprained my ankle during the junior final. I continued playing despite getting injured because there were a lot of people watching it,” said Mohit who lost to Davis Cupper Vishnu Vardhan in the semifinals of the senior event in Delhi.

As Reddy assures that local players will get priority for the 2012 Chennai Open qualifying round wild cards, Mohit is determined to stake his claim. “Those who perform well in the remaining three ITF Futures in Pune, Delhi and Kolkata will surely be rewarded,” said Reddy.

R. Ramkumar and N. Sriram Balaji are also part of the TNTA’s scholarship programme. “We are also looking at Jeevan Nedunchezian for next year,” added Reddy. Jeevan, a former top-10 in juniors, is fresh from an impressive stint at America’s university circuit (NCAA).