Disappointed Somdev can harbour hopes for a top 100 finish

Somdev Devvarman plays a forehand during his men’s singles match against Daniel Munoz-De La Nava during day one of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 26, 2013 in Paris, France. (Getty Images)

Somdev Devvarman‘s quest for a place in the main draw came unstuck in the most painful manner imaginable. The Indian’s three set loss in the first round of the qualifiers at the Bank of England Sports Grounds in Roehampton will mark the first time since Wimbledon 2010 that he will miss a grand slam even when fit. Even though disappointing, the Indian can take heart from the fact that he might still finish the year inside the top 100.

Somdev did miss the first three majors last year, but he was still recuperating from injury at the time. In the first round, the 135th ranked Somdev suffered an upset defeat at the hands of Matt Reid, who is ranked more than 80 places below the Indian. Somdev made a gallant effort despite losing the first set, but came unstuck at the fag-end of a more than two hour third set, when he surrendered a break in the final moments of the match. Somdev lost the match 6-7 (4), 6-4, 16-18 after a gruelling three hour 36-minute marathon in front a sparse crowd.

After a decent first half to the year, there was widespread anticipation that Somdev might continue the good work at Wimbledon and push his case for a return to the top 100 of men’s tennis. Somdev had reached a career high of 66 in 2011 before injury laid him low, dropping him to 733rd in the rankings in October last year. The Indian built a commendable 10-8 record this season on the ATP World Tour, besides reaching three semi-finals at the Challenger events, where he has a relatively better 10-5 record.

His camp was encouraged by the fact that Somdev reached the second round at both Melbourne and Paris – losing in five hard fought sets to Jerzy Janowicz at the Australian Open and succumbing to Roger Federer at the French Open. With those efforts, the Indian has ensured he has a second round appearance in each of the four major events (US Open 2009; Wimbledon 2011 earlier). Somdev also gained valuable experience even though he eventually copped losses against Juan Martin Del Potro at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Dubai and Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour 1000 event in Miami.

But despite the setback, Somdev can look up to the rest of the season with optimism. He has only 32 points to defend through the year and should be able to gain some valuable points in the run up to the US Open. There are at least two ATP World Tour 250 events that Somdev could play in to improve his ranking in the coming weeks. These include the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, USA in the second week of July followed by the Atlanta Open in the third week.

August will see a couple of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, but Somdev will have to win three rounds of qualifying to gain a spot in the main draw there. Immediately though, Somdev will have to forget the bitter disappointment of losing at Roehampton to prepare well for the return to hard courts. The Indian is expected to regain his rightful place in the top 100 of the ATP rankings in the next few months.