Carolina Marin was possibly stumped, says Ashwini Ponnappa

Although Ponnappa lost to the Spanish ace, it was easily one of the best moments of the PBL season. "She could have been stumped as she did not expect I would give a good fight to her," Ponnappa told PTI.

Ponnappa's women's doubles bronze at the 2011 World Championship with Jwala Gutta, was sandwiched between back to back medals at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games. Ponnappa, who resides in Bengaluru, said her net play had improved thanks to the efforts of former coaches Tom John and Yusuf Jauhari. 

"There are two coaches who have influenced me a lot to improve my net play over the years. Initially, it was Tom sir and then Yusuf sir played huge roles in this regard. The best thing about them was they believed in my capability as a net player," she said.

"Of course, Tan has played a huge role, but there are other coaches who have also played their roles. In fact, a lot of people has a role in developing a player," she said, referring to the Indian doubles coach Kim Tan Her of Malaysia.

"A lot of junior players are definitely going to benefit a lot from Tan. He has got the experience and his training is doubles' specific."

Asked about how her partnership with Sikki Reddy was coming along, Ponnappa said, "We are still in the process of figuring out, for we have played just four tournaments so far, and playing with left-handed player like Sikki is a different experience.

"We are still figuring out whether to rotate a lot or play at the nets vice versa. We have a good understanding at the court and it is only going to get better in the future."