"Every match a learning experience...": Maaya Rajeshwaran ahead of French Open Juniors

The French Open Juniors competition will start from May 31 and will go on till June 6. Maaya, 16, who is currently ranked 1,070 in the WTA Rankings and achieved a peak of 642 last year, has tasted some Grand Slam exposure before. In singles, she played the US Open Juniors, reaching the round of 32, while she also featured in the Australian Open Juniors this year as well, bowing out in the round of 64.

Ahead of the French Open Juniors competition, India's rising teenage tennis player Maaya Rajeshwaran said that every match serves as a learning experience for her and the training is going really well for her. The French Open Juniors competition will start from May 31 and will go on till June 6. Maaya, 16, who is currently ranked 1,070 in the WTA Rankings and achieved a peak of 642 last year, has tasted some Grand Slam exposure before. In singles, she played the US Open Juniors, reaching the round of 32, while she also featured in the Australian Open Juniors this year as well, bowing out in the round of 64.

Maaya's current head coach is Joan Bosch, and since January this year, she has been working with Bulgarian coach Paulina on a day-to-day basis. She is a beneficiary of the Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) of the central government, and an amount of over Rs 51 lakh has been sanctioned for her support as an athlete. Speaking to the reporters ahead of the tournament, she said that this year, her focus has been on getting better and feeling Grand Slam ready whenever the opportunity presents itself.

"Every week is an opportunity for improvement. Since the start of the year, it has been the focus to keep getting better, getting more matches, and by the time you get Grand Slams, you feel more at home on court. We have been training well. I have been gaining experience, and what goes well for me and it does not. Every match is a learning experience for me," she said. Featuring in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit so far, she has had a win percentage of 71 per cent on clay surfaces, winning 15 matches and losing six. This year, she won the J300 Beaulieu-sur-Mer tournament in France, which is also a clay tournament.

A lot of her success at clay is down to the training she has received at the Rafa Nadal Academy, established by the tennis icon Rafael Nadal in Spain. Nadal is a record 14-time French Open champion and is hailed as the 'Master of Clay' by fans and players. To train at this highly acclaimed academy, she has shifted her base in Europe. On finding her comfort on clay court, she said, "The more I train on certain surfaces, I feel I belong there. The more matches I play and train on a particular surface, the more comfortable I feel. I am happy to play on any surface as long as I step on court ready to compete."

"After a certain level, it is about how you compete. My coach back in India, Manoj sir, wanted me to move to Europe. Am I am very happy with the coaching I have been getting, and everyone has been helping me out and making me feel the best I could on the court. You learn from professional athletes in the academy, and this is a lot of difference I have felt. The environment is very professional (at the academy), and it is the best environment a pro athlete would want to be in," she said. She turns to chess to keep herself away from all the stress and pressure that comes with the sport, jokingly saying, "Compared to the chess standards that India has, I do not think I play very good chess. It is just something to keep me in one place and not get distracted when a lot of matches are going on," she said. (ANI)