Somdev uncovered by ATP, targets top 50 by year end

Devvarman, the World  ATP # 108 ranked and top Indian Men's Singles player was interview by ATP. Associations of Tennis Professional, known as the ATP,  is the  professional body of Men's Tennis and conducts the management of the Tennis world wide. Check the following video where Somdev talks how he came to tennis world, the college tennis, playing for India, his inspiration and his future goals. 

Devvarman out of French Open 2010

Somdev Devvarman lost in the first round of the French Open 2010 against Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland. The match lasted almost 4 hours ( precisely 3 hour 48 minutes) and was decided in the fifth set. Marco Chiudinelli (ATP # 162), whom Somdev beat earlier at Dubai open won the match with 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline. Nonetheless, Devvarman gave solid fight till the fifth set and may have won had he kept the momentum going in the fifth set. Both the player had first serve winning percentage above 70 %, however Somdev was able to convert only 3 of the 13 breakpoints he got. Marco did better job in break point conversion, 4 out of 7. Presumably that cost dearly to Somdev. 

Though, Somdev had hit  more aces 13 to Marco's 7, his winners were 37 to Marco's 50. On other parameters both the players had similar game. The breakpoints conversion cost Somdev dearly. Thus, India's representation to Singles event at French Open  2010 in the absence of Sania Mirza ended in the first round itself. Though Somdev's ranking will jump and he may cross the 100 threshold, It's not enough for Somdev and Indian Tennis. The shorter shelf life of Singles Tennis player doesn't give Somdev so many years and opportunities and he should not missed such opportunities to better his career.

Nonetheless, Kudos to Somdev for fighting till the five sets.

Roger Federer and Rafeal Nadal starts their French Open rounds tomorrow.

Somdev qualifies for 2010 French Open Main draw

Devvarman, the numero uno Indian tennis sensation qualifies for 2010 FRENCH OPEN Grand Slam tournament. India will be represented in Men's Singles event first time since Leander Paes represented in 1997. Somdev will be participating in his 2nd Grand Slam event, the first one being the US OPEN in 2009 where he reached to 2nd round.Somdev currently ranked at ATP # 109, which is his highest career ranking so far, defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Somdev was rusty in the first set, Mannarino took advantage of Somdev's erratic play and broke first before Somdev level the play and was able to break at 3-3 to take the lead. Both the players won 38 points, but the Indians better server percentage (68%) made the difference. The 2nd set was cake walk for Devvarman as he broke Mannarino thrice and won the set 6-1.

Somdev's good performance at the qualifier will help him gain some valuable points to raise his ranking further up.

Somdev narrowly misses the biggest upset of his career, lost to Lleyton Hewitt

The no.1 Indian played excellent tennis in the second round against former ATP #1 and 2004 US OPEN Champion Lleyton Hewitt at ATP World Tour 250 at Houston, TX. Somdev was close to winning the match when he served for 6-5 match point in the 3rd set. The Australian no.1 player who recently underwent hip surgery held is nerve and drew his vast experience to pull out from the position and pushed the set into tie-breaker. Hewitt closed the tie-breaker with 7-2 win in the 3rd. Somdev won the first set with 6-1 score breaking Hewitt twice. It was thought that Somdev would easily beat the former US Open Champion as he doesn't seem fully fit post his hip surgery and was not at his best.

The 2nd set was complete white wash for Somdev as he was unable to held his serve and Hewitt won the set 6-0. However, The two time NCAA Singles champion came back hard in the 3rd set and gave tough Competition to Hewitt. At one point, Somdev just one serve (or one ACE) away from winning the match and thus creating the biggest upset of his career so far. Somdev entered at the US Men's Clay Court Open as Lucky Loser and won the first match against Irish qualifier NILAND, Conor in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.  Nonetheless, his second round appearance has provided good practice for the upcoming clay season, also he it will earn him 20 points and help scale the ranking chart.

Somdev Vs. Hewitt : 6-1, 0-6,-6-7(2-7)

The main Article

Grueling tour taxing Somdev physically, out of Indian Wells ATP 1000

The no.1 Indian Tennis player lost in qualifying round of the ATP 1000 tournament at Indian Wells, USA. Somdev (ATP # 121)  was seeded 9th for the event, he won the first round against  Alex, Kuznetsov of USA in three sets 6-4,3-6,6-0. He lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in 2nd round against 14th seed Stefan Koubek (ATP # 132) of Austria. After the match, Somdev tweeted "He never felt this awful before ... physically". It seems the toughness of the tour is affecting Somdev's game and physical fitness. Earlier in the Davis Cup, Somdev lost his reverse single against ATP # 13 ranked Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets. Somdev mentioned in his tweets,  he need lot of improvement. The coach of Indian Davis Cup team commented he needs to add more arsenal to compete against top player, only baseline game is not enough. Somdev needs multi pronged strategy to improve his game and physical fitness. Furthermore, if the tour is taxing him lot physically, he should reduce his number of tournament and concentrated on few. We, his fan base hope he overcome this hurdle and achieve greater heights in his career and also help lift Indian tennis. The road ahead is tough and challenging but not impossible. 

Meanwhile, Som is waiting for lucky loser spot at Indian Well ATP.

Good Luck Som

Davis Cup: Somdev losses against Igor Kunitsyn, India down 2-0

India is playing against Russia in Moscow for the Davis Cup World Group finals event. Indian team includes Somdev Devvarman (ATP # 128), Rohan Boppana (ATP # 416), Sanam Singh, and the perennial doubles pair of Leaner Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. The first tie was supposed be contested between Indian #1 ranked Somdev and Igor Andreev (ATP # 38), however knee injury on Thursday ruled out Igor Andreev for the tie. Somdev played against ATP # 107 Igor Kunitsyn for the first tie and had good chance of getting first point for India. Initially he started well and won the first set 7-6 and was leading in the 2^nd set with 5-2 margin before Kunitsyn bounced back and leveled it by winning 7-6. Igor didn’t look back after that and won two consecutive sets 6-3, 6-4 and sealed the first tie for Russia. Somdev had good chance of putting India into lead in the absence of Andreev; however, Somdev was not able to take advantage of his chances. Rohan Boppana lost against Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. The next tie is doubles and India is favorite for the doubles as Leander and Mahesh are one of the top doubles pair in the world. However, trailing with 2-0, India's chances are almost nil unless some miracle happens. To win against Russia, India needs to win all the 3 remaining matches, which is highly unlikely. Russia was hot favorite against India, however, Indians had good opportunity as both Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev pulled out because of the Injuries.

Somdev stuns Chiudinelli enters 2nd round : Dubai Open

The Indian tennis ace Somdev defeated ATP 52 ranked M. Chiudinelli of Switzerland in the first round of Dubai Open 2010. Devvarman played impressive tennis and won the match in straight sets 6-4,7-5 in just 80 minutes. The Indian ace won 76% of the service points and played some impressive ground strokes. Somdev entered the tournament as qualifier and had played two games before the first round, the qualifying round provided good practice for the main draw. In 2nd round Somdev meets a ex top 10 ranked and 2006 Australian open runners-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Baghdatis is back after the long spell due to injury and is playing excellent tennis. Somdev needs to play is best tennis to win against the Cyprot who defeated 8th seed Simon Giles of France

Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhly reached to quarter-final at Dubai Open in doubles. Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Boppana and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will play against Paes and Dlouhly if they win in pre-quarterfinal stage. 

After Dubai Open, Somdev will play in Davis Cup for India at Moscow against Russia.

Somdev to play in Serbia for ATP Challenger after turning 25

The top seeded Indian singles tennis player Somdev Devvarman turned 25 on 13th Feb. Somdev received numerous birthday wishes on his 25th birthday at his twitter account. At present he is in Serbia to play ATP Challenger event in Belgrade. Somdev is seeded 8th at the event and is going to play against Serbian Wild Card Krajinovic Filip. The top favorite for the tournament is Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who is seeded no. 1 (ATP # 37) at the event. Janko defeated Somdev in the second round of Chennai Open earlier this year. Somdev has good chance to reach the final and avenge the defeat at his home town, which is of course hercules task for Somdev, but not impossible. Somdev is not going to meet another seeded player till the quarterfinal and has good opportunity to gain valuable ATP points, if all goes well. In the quarter final he may meet Kukushkin Mikhail of Kazakhstan, who is seeded 3rd and is ranked 122 in ATP ranking, If Somdev wins the quarter-final, he will meet 2nd seeded Golubev Andrev another Kazak player (ATP # 106).  Hope Somdev wins the tournament and defeat Janko in the final.

Tournament : GEMAX OPEN
Location : Belgrade, Serbia
ATP Challenger Event

Points to be awarded: Winner : 125, Finalist: 75, Semifinalist : 45, Quarter finalist : 25, Round 2 : 10


The top seeded players 

1) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
2) Golubev Andrev (KAZ)
3) Kukushkin Mikhail (KAZ)
4) Koubek Stefan (AUT)
5) Phou Bjorn (GER)
6) Brown Dustin (JAM)
7) Beck, Karol (SVK)
8) Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Good Luck Somdev

Somdev loses in quarter-final of Johannesburg, SA

Somdev Devvarman reached to quarter final at his second ATP tournament of 2010 at Johannesburg, SA, one step ahead of Chennai Open 2010, where he lost in second round. The Indian sensation defeated higher rank Xavier Malisse (ATP # 93) of Belgium in the first round in straight set 6-4, 6-2. In Second round he won against T. Alves of Brazil in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Somdev couldn't continue the momentum going against Top 20 ranked ATP player David Ferrer of Spain, who was seeded 2nd at the event. Somdev lost in straight set against Ferrer in 6-1,6-3. Somdev needs to raise his game against Top 40 ranked player in order to be among the top 50 player of the world, which Somdev is targeting to be by year end. Nevertheless, Somdev earned valuable 45 ATP points by reaching to quarter-final at the event, which will raise his ranking a notch above. Somdev needs to maintain the consisting in order to cross the Top 100 barrier. Somdev was close to Top 100 ranking at the beginning of the year, however was relegated to ATP # 161 after loosing early at Chennai Open and unable to qualify at Australian Open Main event.

Somdev exits from Australian Open 2010 Qualifier

Somdev, the top ranked Indian tennis player lost in the third and final round of the Australian Open qualifier. He lost against Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic (ATP # 126), who was seeded 12th in the event in two straight sets 3-6, 6-7. Somdev was seeded 27 and is currently ranked at 161. Earlier Somdev defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany with 2-6,6-1,8-6 in three sets in round 2 and James Duckworth of Australia in round one with 6-1,6-2 score.

Other Indian tennis players Prakash Amritraj and Yuki Bhambri also lost thus ending Indian challenge in the men singles event. Prakash lost in round 2 and Yuki lost in the first round. Somdev's Compatriot whom Somdev defeated in the NCAA finals (US Collegiate event) has risen to ATP # 38 rank and will be competing for the ATP title at Auckland. Isner has shown consistency in his game, which Somdev seems to be lacking. Somdev needs to consistently beat top ranked player to be among the top 50 players.

Somdev to compete in qualifier for Austrailan Open 2010

Somdev Devvarman competes against local lad James Duckworth (AUS)  in the qualifying round for the 2010 Australian Open. This is Somdev's first Australian Open. Devvarman is currently ranked at 161 and need to put a consistent effort to improve is ranking. Somdev lost early at the ATP Chennai Open against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the 2nd Round. Somdev was runners' up last year at ATP Chennai and thus had good number points which got dropped because of his early exit this year.

The other Indian players participating at Australian Open are Yuki Bhambri (ATP #330) competing against Jan Minar (ATP# 245) of Ukrian and Prakash Amritraj against Andre Begemann of Germany. Apart from this, other regular player Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes, and Sania Mirza will be participating in the main draw.










                                       Yuki Bhambri

Janko Tipsarevic

Somdev Ready to Rock 2010 with Chennai Open

Devvarman, known as Bujji by his friends, will begin 2010 season with Chennai ATP Open. He is defending runners-up for Chennai ATP Open. Last Year he lost against Marian Cilic in the final before defeating top ranked players like Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic. 2009 was good year for Somdev, he qualified for US Open and reached to 2nd Round. His Ranking rose to 126 and with his solid efforts India reached to Davis Cup finals Group after 11 years of break.

Somdev got Wild Card for Chennai Open and will be playing against Rainer Schuettler in the first round. The Other Indian players participating in the tournaments are Rohan Bopana (Wild Card), Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and any other Qualifiers who succeed in the Qualifying tournament.






ATP Chennai Open Draw link

Top Ranked  at 2010 ATP Chennai Open

1) Robin Soderling (SWE),  2) Marian Cilic (CRO),  3) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)


4)  Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) , 5) Dudi Sela (ISR),  6) Simon Gruel (GER)


7) Michael Berrer (GER), 8) Rajeev Ram (USA)