Wimbledon quarter-final appearance renews Arnav Paparkar's self-belief

"I can compete with anyone. I can beat anyone in the juniors, for sure," Arnav Paparkar said.

The confidence comes from what he achieved at Wimbledon. The 18-year-old became the first Indian boy in 36 years after legendary Leander Paes in 1990 to reach the Wimbledon junior singles quarter-finals, earlier this month.

But the magnitude of his achievement didn't sink in as he walked off the court. It did when his phone barely stopped buzzing.

"It has sunk now. For the first two days, my Instagram and WhatsApp were full of notifications," Paparkar told The Bridge on his return from England.

Paparkar had made two junior Grand Slam appearances earlier this year — the Australian Open (main draw) and Roland Garros (third round) — but exited without making much impact.

Six months later, the Pune-born returned on the grand stage and enroute his quarterfinal finish knocked out the junior World No. 3 Keaton Hance of the United States with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win in Wimbledon Juniors.

"My first match was with a British wildcard. There were many people supporting him and I was a bit nervous. But a little less nervous than the Australian Open," he said.

"Playing against the junior world number 3, I tried to forget his ranking and what he has done in the past. I took him as a normal opponent and that I can beat him.

"I served well. I returned really well. I didn't give him opportunities in the match to come back. It was the biggest win of my career," he further reflected.

Paparkar also featured in the boy’s doubles alongside Thailand’s Kunanan Pantaratorn. But the Indo-Thai pair lost in a dramatic second round match to top seeds Luis Guto Miguel and Ziga Sesko 6-3, 5-7, 16-18.

Paparkar left the All England Club with a sense of fulfilment and, more importantly, the belief that he belongs among the best on the junior circuit.

'Mom closed her clinic'

Behind Paparkar's Wimbledon breakthrough lies the support and his coach Hemant Bendre and family’s sacrifice.

His mother, a doctor, had to shut down her clinic to accompany him to tournaments during his formative years.

But before choosing tennis, Paparkar was introduced to swimming. At the age of six, while attending swimming sessions in Pune, he noticed a tennis players exchanging volley. He was intrigued and wandered. The coach invited him to play and there was no looking back from then on.

"That's how I chose tennis," he recalled.