My idol has always been Novak Djokovic, says 17-year-old tennis sensation Siddhant Banthia
At the age of 17, a majority of the world's population are on a mission to complete their high-school assignments and figure out what university they would like to join after passing out of school.
On the other hand, there are a few, like Sidhanth Banthia, from Pune, who already have their lives more or less sorted.
In a country where cricket is idolised, Siddhanth decided to pick up a tennis racket instead and follow his passion.
Luckily enough for him, his parents supported him throughout and are helping him on his journey to become a tennis star.
Banthia, currently ranked 43 in the ITF's junior circuit was the first Indian Road To Wimbledon winner back in 2014, thus allowing him to qualify for the juniors tournament at SW19 in 2015.
Since then, he has played all the Grand Slams so far in the juniors category and has been improving his game with each passing tournament.
He is supported by the Maharashtra Government, an NGO called Lakshya Sports, and Bharat Forge as well.
He took part in the singles and doubles event of the Australian Open juniors in 2018, but was unfortunately knocked out in the first round of the singles, and second round of the doubles event.
Despite not getting off to the best of starts in 2018, Banthia remains confident about the rest of the year and hopes to transition into the senior circuit soon.
Sportskeeda caught up with the youngster after his 2nd round loss in the Australian Open juniors doubles event.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
How did you start playing tennis? What got you interested and when did you start playing?
I was 9 when I first held a racquet. Till then I used to play cricket. I played till I was 12 but it was a team sport so I lost interest in that. I saw my dad playing in the neighborhood just for fitness. I just played the game for some time and it felt good so I continued.
When did you realize that you were good at tennis and that you needed to take it up as a career? Did you realize it or was it your parents or your coach?
The first few days everyone used to say I was talented. I won my first tournament within a month so that was a confidence booster for me. I actually thought that looking at the trophies at such young age and getting fame so young, especially when I won a state level tourney and the rankings went up, it was a good challenge for me. I like challenges and yeah, I decided to pursue it as a career.
How has the support been from parents and coaches? In India, majority of the parents always want their children to pursue engineering or medicine or something of that sort. So how has the support been for you?
Luckily for me my parents always wanted me to do whatever I liked. I was always interested in sports so my parents always encouraged me to something in sports. It wasn't hard to convince anyone from my family because my parents have always been supportive even though there are losses. But they still give as much support as they can. As we get older, support starts coming in - both private and government sponsors - which is helping a lot right now.
How important do you think government and private backing is for a young player considering tennis is such an expensive sport?
Tennis is a very expensive sport, you cannot do it on your own. You need a very big sponsor, not just a normal one.
At grand slams you need coaches and fitness trainers, so you need funding. I have a sponsor but still looking for a bigger one which would help me travel everywhere with them.
I have a physio and coaching team, a whole fresh team with me which is a huge boost. I can travel more even for lower level tournaments.
Even Yuki and Ram have had said that they have not had enough backing to have a team travel with them everywhere. How important is to have a travelling trainer with you?
It not about just 1 person behind the scene there are so many people. I agree with everyone who wants to travel with a team. Especially when you look at other kids from different countries who come with a whole team. They have coaches, trainers, physios etc. Especially for grand slams, it is essential and makes a huge difference
You have played quite a few junior Grand Slams so far. What do you think needs to be done to get higher and progress to the later stages? What do you think needs to be done? What changes are needed?
Grand Slams is pretty tough. I am happy that I am playing it but the job is not done. My aim is to win a Grand Slam which I haven't done so far. It's not a very big diff but just small things that can make you go further, especially the mental level makes a huge diff.
Especially with my physique, i need to build a stronger game and be in that zone for a long time. Training is the most imp thing.
Everything has to be spot on, you can't waste any time. To win a Grand Slam I have to sharpen my game and work on all aspects.
You've played junior events for a while. When do you think you will start mixing future events with juniors. Is it a strategy that you're playing Grade 4?
No this is the year. I am already ranked 35 in the world. It's my last year in juniors there's no point playing juniors any more. I already get direct entry into the Grand Slam. My plan was to just play the 4 Slams and travel a lot for the pro tournaments.
How important is bulkiness and fitness of a player. How do you manage to compete against bigger, stronger guys?
As far as bulkiness is concerned I am not concerned. You have seen the likes of Novak Djokovic and Sascha Zverev - they are all lean but muscular at the same time. I'm working on that. I have a lean body shape and to gain so much weight is tough. I am working on what can make my body perfect for tennis and keeps me injury free.
Who has been your inspiration and what have you learnt from him/her?
My idol has always been Djokovic. He still is. Federer was there but Novak was at the top when I was young. I try to copy him and follow his habits as much as I can.
Have you ever met him?
Yeah I have been traveling so much and playing the Grand Slams so I was lucky enough to meet him and have an interaction with him. It's pretty great
What has been the role of the Maharashtra government in your development?
Its been good they have helped me with a few wildcards here and there. They have also started providing funding of late. As I said, it needs to get bigger and bigger. Compared to the other countries we need to have a big team and great association of players and coaching. There's a lot of improvement in India.
What are the strengths and weaknesses in your game?
My strength is that I have a very tactical game. I can read the opponents really well on the court. I can mix a few strategies. I have a good serve and a very good net game which is good for doubles but I can mix it up in singles as well. Weakness is that I need to get more consistent and hit big balls at a consistent pace which is something I will work on when I go home.
In India, the trend is to start with singles and move to doubles. Do you plan to play both or focus on one particular aspect?
Everyone's aim is to first play singles. I am focusing on singles but I am playing doubles as well and happy that I am getting good results in both. I would like to carry on with singles. the aim is to go as far as I can in singles
I have good hands at the net, a great eye and great coordination. Doubles is not a big challenge but I will focus on both.
Over the years, quite a few youngsters have come up from India. Are you keeping a tab on them and are you close to any of them?
The circuit in India is huge but unfortunately we haven't seen any Indian in the slams which is something I wanna develop. In this Grand Slam there is only one Indian from the boys. They need to work on this. When you look at other countries there are at least 4-5 from each so it makes a good team and good challenges as you can always compete with one another. Indian tennis is growing but it needs to grow bigger and bigger and get to a stage where there are a lot of players in the top 100 playing grand slams regularly.
What needs to be done to improve the quality of tennis in India?
Everything is important. The biggest issue I have faced is funds which we are lacking. People cannot travel so much. People in India travel in India to start earning points but they need to start traveling outside to get experience.
Infrastructure needs to improve. We have to have an association where everyone comes together. We can say we have a good team. We have many players from the same academy where everything is available at the same place. In India everything is in a different place. Players are traveling and training at different places. I think it needs to be a good unit. It's slowly getting better but with these aspects I think it can become great.
What are your goals for this year and the next couple of years?
As I said, my goal for this year is to win a slam, hopefully, Wimbleldon as I can do well on that surface I think. Also, to make as many points as I can in the pro tournaments. Get at least 700-750 by playing men's tournaments. The other goal is to develop my body which is helpful in the men's game.
A few rapid-fire questions:
Dream doubles partner? Rohan Bopanna
Dream mixed doubes partner? Eugenie Bouchard
Favourite cricketer? Kohli
Favourite City? Pune
Favourite Surface? Grass
Favourite Tournament? Wimbledon
Best friend on tour? Christian Didier Chin from Malaysia
