Harshini Nagaraj: Rally around! Tennis champion seeks funding to sustain success

Bengaluru, December 30: As Harshini Nagaraj basked in the glory of her maiden All India Tennis Association (AITA) Nationals Under -14 title, a cloud of uncertainty hovers around the future of this precocious talent from Karnataka, who comes from a humble background and needs some financial backing to pursue her future dreams.

At Aurangabad last week, the 13-year-old, who was seeded 16th in the tournament held under the aegis of AITA and the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, stunned Odisha's second-seed Sohani Mohanty 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 en route to clinching her maiden national singles title.

It was almost a double delight for the Bengaluru-based girl, who along with Snigdha Kanta finished as runners-up in the doubles category where they went down 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-10 to the Telangana's Rishitha Reddy and Sohani in the final.

Karnataka's tennis talent Harshini making steady strides

Success is sweet, but its secret is sweat and nobody knows it better that Harshini, the Transform Tennis Academy Graduate, who has been making steady strides in the AITA circuit .

The maiden AITA nationals title caps a dream run for the Grade 9 student of The Brilliant School in Kundalahalli, whose career was at crossroads one stage. Initially coached by her father Nagaraj, Harshini's career hit a bumpy road when he father had to close down his Glow Tennis Academy near Marathahalli in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, realising her passion for the sport and huge potential, Nagaraj, decided to enroll her in the Transform Tennis Academy's Marathahalli centre last year and it proved to be a masterstroke.

"Harshini is a good student of the game and works hard on a daily basis. She is extremely dedicated and consistent with her actions on court. She has great skills and technique for a player of her age and is trying to develop her game to compete with the best," said Kishore Srinivasan, Transform Tennis Academy owner.

Currently ranked No. 20 in the AITA U-14 category, Harshini has set her priorities right. "I want to break it into the top 10 in the U-14 category. That's my first target. From then I'll take it one by one. Now that I've won U-14 title, U-16 should be next. And in the coming years, I would like to break it into the International Tennis Federation (ITF) rankings system as well as the AITA senior ranking," said Harshini.

Harshini first showed glimpses of her talent after winning TS 3 mat sports event in the U-14 age group in 2017. And from then on it has been a gradual climb up way the ladder. The win at the CS 7 event in Coimbatore a year later enhanced her credentials further.

In the Mini Olympics held in Karnataka in 2020, Harshini won three gold medals (singles, doubles and team) and in April this year, Harshini won the doubles event in the Karnakata State Lawn Tennis Association event.

Harshini's coach Bharatram Balajee is in awe of her ward and wants the young talent to scale greater heights. "Harshini requires a lot of match experience and organised training in a structured way to help her scale up the rankings," said Balajee.

With tennis running in their genes, it is no wonder that Harshini's sister Pooja has also started training.

Tennis as it is, isn't that a sport which runs on shoestring budget and competing in tournaments outside the state and travelling is burning a deep hole in the pockets of the family, who is banking on some kind of sponsorship to come up for their help.

"Funds are required for her travel as she is keen to improve her ranking aligned with her future plans. Harshini needs right level of equipment required to compete with the best players in India. And to help her achieve success in tennis as well as supporting education in her career plans we need more funds," said Harshini's father Nagaraj.

And one hope the help comes sooner than later for this tennis prodigy from Karnataka.