The year 2018 was a breakthrough one for Prajnesh Gunneswaran who started the year as world No 243 but ended it as India’s top-ranked player at world No 110, reaching a career-high of 104 in November. He also won his first two Challengers, an Asian Games medal and made his ATP World Tour debut, all at the age of 28.
However, on the last day of the year that changed his tennis career, Prajnesh suffered a first-round loss at the season-opening Maharashtra Open, after getting a main draw wildcard. The India No 1 went down 5-7, 3-6 to 20-year-old American Michael Mmoh, ranked 103, in one hour and 14 minutes.
For Prajnesh though, the early exit, although disappointing, is collateral damage as he tries to modify his style of play for the new season. The left-hander, who lost five years of his career to injury, wants to make the most of his resurgence and is experimenting with more power and pace in his strokes.
“It could be a combination of this being my first match and this is not something that I do all the time, because I usually play with lot of spin, which protects me from making errors. But I took more risks today, in the sense that I played a lot flatter. It cost me the match but I think I executed what I wanted to, not as well as I would have liked,” Prajnesh said after the match.
The aggressive style may not have been the best suited to the courts in Pune but the Indian, who is in Pune with his coach from the Alexander Waske Tennis University, is determined to keep at it, even if it costs him some matches, because he believes this is the way forward for him.
“Not happy with the result but, I think if I keep doing this eventually I will start to make them and when I do I hope the results will follow.
“I know how to play flat but I never did because I know it is high risk. I was not interested in winning a point purely by hitting a winner, I was okay with the point by hitting maybe three or four extra balls, putting the opponent in an uncomfortable position, a little bit longer rallies… I feel this is the right way for me to go up,” he explained.
In the match, even as he tried to go for broke against the younger American, who trains at the same academy as him, Prajnesh made errors and missed several chances especially on serve, after being broken in the first match. He admitted that not mixing his serve was an error and that he had mentally switched off when he faced the decisive break points in the second set.
“I made too many mistakes through the match, didnt make good enough returns. To create some sort of pressure on the opponents I have to make good returns and the times I did as well, I missed early after that,” he said.
“Today there was a chance when he was bit tighter and had I slowed down and rallied, he would have made mistakes. I used to do that a lot and it did give me a lot of success but I think this is what I want to do. Sure it cost me the match today but it is what it is,” he added
Mmoh, on the other hand, said that Prajnesh needs to fine tune his game coming at the net. He got some solid points when he rushed to the net and passed his opponent, but the American said that was an aspect he missed.
“I feel like there were some opportunities where he could have come to the net but he was trying to be more aggressive. I feel like he should get more comfortable coming to the net. But it’s good for him because he has so much potential and room for improvement and he is already a very good player,” Mmoh told reporters after his win.
Prajnesh though insists that he will carry on in the same style this season as he has got good dividends in practice, if not in a match situation as yet.
“I don’t think I played a very bad match today to be honest, there were some things I feel like I could have done better. I feel that as I keep doing this, I will get over that hill. I believe that if I get better at doing what I did today then I will win more matches, against high quality opponents.
“I should not be changing my game again if I feel uncomfortable. I can be as good as I can be if I keep at it and in the process If I lose a few matches, so be it,” he said.
Next up for him will be the Australian Open qualifiers as he is focussed on getting into his first Grand Slam main draw, keeping his foot on the gas and winning points on his own terms.
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