Dubai : You know how good the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy is when an hitherto unknown Indian jumps 500 places in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings after a one-and-half-month stint there. Less than nine months after her first visit in January, 19-year-old Poojashree Venkatesha is now hovering around 300, is the second-highest ranked Indian girl after Sania Mirza and is eyeing another major elevation as she prepares for her second visit to the famous academy in Florida at the start of the new year.
Talking to XPRESS on the sidelines of the $75,000 Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, the towering 185cm tall Indian, standing out amid a sea of eastern Europeans, said: "It's obviously a great opportunity, this being my first full year on the senior tour. I am hoping to play in the Grand Slams [she has already played the juniors in all the Grand Slams] next year, so will obviously need to improve my rankings to that level. I am going to the Bollettieri academy at the behest of the Indian government in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year and I am hoping this trip too will really help like the previous one."
Venkatesha, who has already featured in the Hopman Cup, hopes to be an integral part of the Indian Fed Cup team as well following the Indian government's decision not to allow players without Indian passport to represent the country. "That ruling has made players like the Uberoi sisters and Sunitha Rao ineligible to play for India and gives us the chance to be part of the Fed Cup team. We have the Asia-Oceania Zone Group II matches coming up in February next year and it would be great to play alongside Sania Mirza," she said.
And talking of Mirza, Venkatesha said she really need look no further when it comes to seeking inspiration. "Sania has been such an inspiring presence. She has been pushing us all with her deeds," the girl from the garden city of Mysore said.
Venkatesha is by far the tallest Indian girl on tour and with her height comes a big serve as well, the fastest by any Indian girl at the moment. "Serve is one of my big weapons and I have clocked 170km/h with it." However, unlike Mirza, her game revolves around solid baseline play. "Sania goes for broke more often, but I am defensive, which is why I need to sharpen my forehand and footwork a bit more," she said.
Having won four of the five $10,000 ITF tournaments she has played in this year, Venkatesha is hoping her achievements begin to attract more sponsors which she desperately needs to continue her upward rise. "The Habtoor challenge is my first $75,000 tournament and I am hoping to play more $25,000 and $50,000 tournaments next year starting with one in China, but for that I need more sponsorships. Right now, I just have one sponsor in GVK who take care of my flight expenses," she said.
