Getting back into the top 100 is my immediate goal, says Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
The Author of the Bestseller, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale says, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars." The 29-year-old Chennai tennis star, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan exactly emulates this by setting goals sky high and diligently working towards them. Enduring a slow start to the season of 2018 by making it only to the Quarter-finals of the Newport Beach Challenger US, Bangkok2 Challenger and the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune, conquering the $125,000 RBC Championships of Dallas, in Texas USA a few days back came as a breeze. Keeping Wimbledon as an exalted objective, the 111th ranked doubles tennis player of India focuses on taking the challenges on this journey head on. Having tasted the Wimbledon flavour in the Junior category in 2004 and 2005, the seeds of clinching that elusive trophy at the All England Club in London had been sown into his being from a young age by his grandfather. The veteran Rohan Bopanna was always a helping hand for the 29-year-old. (Image: Zee News) It was after graduating at the University in 2012 that tennis seemed to take the main-stage in Jeevan's career. Reaching the semi-finals of the Chennai Open in 2016 with Somdev Devvarman was kind of a turning point when Jeevan decided to focus solely on the doubles. Spending some five to six years on the Challengers and Futures circuit, the Chennai based Indian was set to make a transition into doubles. The veteran Rohan Bopanna was always a helping hand for the 29-year-old.
The fourth seeded pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Christopher Rungkat scripted a scintillating 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 win over the top seeds Leander Paes and Britain's World no.96 Joe Salisbury who was defending his title to emerge triumphant in the Dallas Challenger. Registering his 26th Career doubles title and a fifth Challenger title, Nedunchezhiyan is all optimist when looking forward to the season ahead. Partnering with Rungkat of Indonesia for some time now, Jeevan hopes to go the distance into this season. The Indian and the Indonesian duo had made it to three finals on the ATP Challenger circuit last year but were left devoid of major success. The dramatic entry into the Wimbledon 2017 for Jeevan in the main draw when Korea's Hyeon Chung withdrew due to injury, forcing the Indian to combine with the American Jared Donaldson was a story in itself. But with Rungkat, Nedunchezhiyan has had a fair time playing together till now and looks to do ahead too. "Rungkat and I just started playing. It is nice to get a challenge title in America .. we both have similar goals which helps the partnership." Jeevan said."Getting back into the top 100 is my immediate goal and then to play Wimbledon.", Jeevan said to The Bridge when asked about how does he plan to go ahead in this new season.