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

Somdev enters into Semi at Charlottesville Challenger

Somdev enters into semifinal at Charlottesville Challenger event defeating Matwe Middlekoop of Netherlands with 6-3,6-4 scoreline. Somdev will meet Ryan Sweeting of USA, who is seeded 5 at the event, defeated no.1 seed Michael Russel of USA with 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (1).
However, countryman and current U.Va sophomore Sanam Singh lost to second seed Kevin Kim (ATP # 87) of USA.Sanam, who returned to professional circuit after a long period, fought his heart out but lost the quarter-final 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-7(5). For Somdev, there wasn't a much of a challenge from Dutch Middlekoop. Another semifinal will be played between Kevin Kim of USA and Donal Young (USA), the upcoming tennis sensation.

Roger Federer also entered into Semi-final at Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel, an ATP world tour 500 event.He is going to play against fellow countryman Marco Chiudinelli. Federer is playing the frist event after long six week break.

Somdev wins at Charlottesville ATP Challenger- Inching towards 100

Somdev won the first round at Charlottesville ATP Challenger ($50, 000) tournament. Somdev, seeded no.3 at the event beat Hungary's wild-card entrant Lukacs Denes 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Though Somdev wasn't at his best, he managed to seal the victory. Devvarman will next face Izak, Van Der Merwe of South Africa, who beat countryman Klaasen Raven 6-4,6-4.

Somdev is currently ranked at 116, his highest ranking so far and is inching closer to Top 100. He may break into top 100 anytime now. Another Indian Sanam Singh, who is sophomore at University of Virginia ( Somdev's alma mater) also reached at second round beating Zemlja Grega of Slovakia 6-2,5-7,6-4. He next faces Scoville Jenkins of USA.

Top 5 seed at Charlottesville ATP Challenger are

1) Russel Michael, USA (ATP # 85)

2) Kim Kevin (ATP # 87)

3) Somdev Devvarman (ATP #121)

4) Anderson Kevin (ATP # 123)

5) Sweeting, Ryan (ATP # 124)