Indian teenager Arnav Paparkar causes a flutter in the tennis world

Three dozen years is a long time in any sphere of life, not just sport. Yet, on a scorching Wednesday morning last week, on the most famous lawns in the world, it took just 52 minutes for Arnav Paparkar to script a chapter in Indian tennis history.

With a clinical 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Japan’s Ryo Tabata in the boys’ round of 16, the 18-year-old stormed into the Wimbledon quarterfinals and became the first Indian since the legendary Leander Paes in 1990 to achieve the feat. For Indian tennis, the long wait was finally over.

In a virtual interaction with The Hindu, Arnav revealed that meticulous preparation did the trick. “I trained on grass in Spain for two weeks before Wimbledon and also played a tournament in Roehampton. I was comfortable with the way I moved, served and returned… I didn’t miss too many returns,” Arnav said.

The confidence also stemmed from the lessons learnt during the course of the year. “I was a bit nervous because the Australian Open was my first Grand Slam. There were so many people watching. By the time French Open arrived, I wasn’t thinking about the crowd anymore. I just played my natural game,” said the Pune teenager, who idolises Roger Federer and football icon Cristiano Ronaldo.

Arnav’s self-belief came to the fore at The Championships. He brushed aside British wildcard Joshua Craze before causing a flutter by taking out third seed Keaton Hance. He then went on to avenge the two losses against Tabata in their earlier meetings.

“I knew playing the third seed was going to be tough, but wasn’t impossible. My serve clicked, and I handled the pressure well. Only after the match did it sink in that I had beaten a higher-ranked player,” Arnav recalled.

Behind the teenager’s rise lies the unwavering support of his family.

nnis“My mother is a doctor, but she closed her clinic as she had to travel with me regularly. My elder brother sacrificed a lot because he often stayed home alone while my parents travelled for tournaments. Everyone in my family has sacrificed in some way or the other. I want to do something special for them one day”.