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Here's what Ankita Raina learned in 1st round of French Open qualifying

Though India’s highest-ranked female singles player lost in 1st round of qualifying, she says her maiden Grand Slam show at Roland Garros has only strengthened her belief of belonging at top level

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“I remember I was shaking a bit when I started the first game serving against Samantha in Dubai. It wasn’t like that.”  

There’s a stark contrast between the Ankita Raina of February 2018 and the Ankita Raina of May 2018. 

By India’s top-ranked female singles tennis player’s own admission, Ankita was feeling the nerves of setting foot on the big stage during her first round qualifying match against the then world No. 44 Samantha Stosur at the Dubai Tennis Championship in February.    

It was the 25-year-old Indian’s first appearance in the qualifiers of a WTA Premier tournament, and she went down 4-6 4-6 to the Australian, losing the battle as much in the mind as in the skills. 

A little over two months on, she was back on the big stage. But this time, while the stage was bigger, the stage fright wasn’t. 

Breaking the 200-barrier in the WTA singles rankings on the back of a string of creditable results, Ankita got the first taste of the Grand Slam dish with an entry in the French Open qualifiers.

“It was my dream to play a Grand Slam,” Ankita recalls in a chat with DNA after arriving in India.

“I was quite excited before I got to Paris. But once I got there, I felt pretty normal. I didn’t have much in my mind, and just went about my usual routine. I was confident and had the belief,” she adds.

It was on show on Court 8 of the hallowed Roland Garros.

Playing on a surface least suited to her game — as is the case with most professional players, except if you’re a certain Rafael Nadal — Ankita held on to her own against Evgeniya Rodina, a player ranked 116 in the world and armed with much more experience.

And although Ankita lost in straight sets to the 29-year-old Russian in the first round of the qualifiers, it wasn’t quite a Dubai-like defeat.   

She surrendered the first set 3-6, but once she settled down with her game on the red dirt, Ankita gave Rodina a run for her money. 

She zoomed to a 5-2 lead in the second set before the Russian brought all her experience into play to force a tie-breaker and get over the line.        

“It took me the first set to just understand how to move on the clay, how to set up the point and about the opponent,” she says while looking back at the 101-minute encounter.

“The second set, I played more freely, didn’t have to think too much, just went for my shots and got the lead. But the points were longer from the first set and they were getting even longer considering I was getting the lead and she was trying to catch up. 

“But then after that 5-2 game, something changed. I didn’t feel it consciously but the match started slipping. I still didn’t get tight or nervous because till the end, I was confident that I’ll win the set for sure. 
“But I think there’s always a first time. It was a good experience, and I’ve many more Slams to come,” she adds.

‘Self-belief firmer’

Ankita’s French sojourn has not only taught her more about the nuances of a clay-court game and the art of closing out a set when on top, but more importantly, has reiterated her faith. 

“The belief of belonging to that level has just got firmer,” she says. “Lately I’ve had good performances and have been playing better at the higher level. The last few matches that I’ve played against the higher-ranked players have been close, and I’ve had my chances. 

“I also saw some other qualifying matches that only made my belief stronger. Of course, I also know what are the areas I need to improve upon,” she adds.

Focus on mindset

Improvement has been Ankita’s buzzword this season. 

The Ahmedabad-born girl won her first singles title in more than three years at the $25,000 ITF tournament in Gwalior earlier this year, following it up with a semifinal and a quarterfinal show in ITF events at Kofu and Kashiwa, respectively, in Japan.

The performances propelled her to her career-high singles ranking of 181 last month, and she knows what she has to do to go that one step higher in terms of rankings and a more consistent showing at the top level.  

“I think it is the fitness and the mental part. Both get complex as you go higher, and you have to go into tiny details. The stronger one can get physically and mentally, the easier it’ll be to pull out matches at the highest level. Because everyone out there is fighting, one just needs to hang in there longer. The sport is very much mind-oriented at the top level,” she says.

For now, though, her mind is firmly placed on the challenges ahead: the Wimbledon, the Asian Games in August, and more slices of the Grand Slam pie.

“I’ll be playing the grass season this month and then the Wimbledon,” she says.

“I’ve been preparing for the Asian Games since last year, so that has been the goal ever since. Of course, the goal is also to play the rest of the Slams,” she adds.

Her French lessons are sure to come in handy there. 

N ZONE

26 No. of winners Ankita Raina dished out against Evgeniya Rodina in their French Open first round qualifying encounter. The Russian, on the other hand, had just 18 

WHEN ANKITA SPOTTED DJOKER

Ankita Raina, who was accompanied by her mother and coach Hemant Bendre in Paris, had her share of fangirl moments during her stint at the Roland Garros. “On my last day there, I had a glimpse of Novak Djokovic, he had just stepped out of the locker room. I saw Venus Williams too, she was walking towards the practice courts,” she says.

DID YOU KNOW?

Ankita Raina is only the 5th Indian woman tennis player to breach the top-200 WTA rankings in singles, the others being Sania Mirza, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao

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