Spanish lessons, tougher opponents, and drag mats. Plenty of new things have entered the day-to-day life of 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi since she began training at the Rafa Nadal Academy in February.
What hasn’t changed is the bland food she loves. “Even at home, I can’t eat spicy food because my stomach gets upset. So, when I went to Europe, everything was very bland and I was really comfortable eating it every day. I wasn’t homesick,” said Maaya.
It was in February when Maaya’s astonishing run to the semifinals of the WTA 125 Mumbai Open sent a ripple of hope through Indian women’s tennis, starved of a new singles star since Sania Mirza.
Awarded a qualifying wildcard, Maaya stunned multiple seasoned players and earned praise from American legend Billie Jean King.
Two weeks later, 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal was watching the Indian hit forehands at his academy in Mallorca.
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“I go to school (at the academy itself) in the morning. Then, I play tennis from 11 AM to 1 PM. Sometimes, I have fitness sessions in the afternoon, and then, I play tennis in the evening or the opposite. So, two tennis sessions and one fitness session apart from school,” said Maaya, explaining her daily routine in Spain.
A session with Nadal
Soon after joining the academy, the Coimbatore girl got a chance to show her game to the 38-year-old Nadal, who retired from the sport in November 2024.
“We (Maaya and other juniors at the academy) knew that he was going to come and would interact a bit, but I didn’t know that he was going to watch me play. I think that it was very humble of him to come down and watch all the juniors play and give advice,” recalled Maaya.
Were there any nerves playing in front of the legend? “I didn’t feel so much pressure. I just told myself to play good tennis because I knew that if I took pressure, I’d be messing up the entire thing.”
Maaya mentioned that Nadal congratulated her for her stellar run in Mumbai and also told her coaches about the areas in which she needs to improve.
Adjusting to life in Spain
With regards to the level of facilities and the quality of competitions, Europe is one of the best places for a young tennis player like Maaya.
In her two months in Spain, she has already experienced major differences when compared to her training in India.
“You have to be a bit more professional in Europe. The more I’ve been there, the more I’ve learned how to manage myself off-court and on-court. You really have to be disciplined. There’s no fooling around,” said the teenager.
The discipline Maaya refers to could be observed from the social media videos of her dragging a mat across the clay courts to even the surface at the end of her first few practice sessions.
“That’s a discipline that everyone follows in Europe. That’s something that you don’t do in India. It’s a discipline that when you get out of court, you do your own court and it’s not only at the academy. Players do it everywhere in Europe,” she said.
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Maaya has played four junior tournaments this season – two in India (New Delhi, Chandigarh) and two in Spain (Benicarlo, Villena). While she won the hard court tournament in New Delhi and reached the semifinals in Chandigarh, she could not go past the quarterfinals in both clay court events in Europe, losing to a Top 25 junior in Villena.
“Europe is generally one of the most competitive places in tennis. There was a J300 in New Delhi where there were quite a few Asians in the draw, but in Europe, I couldn’t see any Asians in the draw. Almost 80 to 90 per cent of the players were European, and everyone is used to playing on the clay. Everyone has been growing up competing on the clay,” said Maaya.
However, the teenager, whose preferred surface is slow hard courts, feels playing on clay is better because it is even slower.
Transition to seniors
Like any other junior, Maaya’s goal is to play the Junior Grand Slams and win one of them. Currently ranked 67th, the Indian has a good shot at playing all the three remaining Majors this season.
However, she also understands that in the modern game, quick transition to the senior circuit is important, and this is why the run in Mumbai was huge for her.
“During Mumbai, I didn’t really realise what was going on around me because I was in the heat of the tournament. My phone was dead for 10 days. But during the four days I had at home before going to Spain, I was able to recollect and reflect on what actually happened that week. When I thought about that, I was really happy with the way I performed and kept myself in the tournament,” mentioned Maaya.
“Also, as a 15-year-old female athlete, that too a tennis player, I’m in the transition of juniors to women, not completely, but slowly. So, Mumbai was a huge breakthrough for the start of that transition,” she added.
Being a reserve in the senior Indian team at the ongoing Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tournament in Pune is another step in that trajectory for the promising teenager.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com