Have been working a lot on my upper body, says Ramkumar Ramanathan
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Ramkumar Ramanathan has stated that after a decent 2018, he has focused more on his upper body strength to get more power on his serves ahead of the new season. The Indian tennis ace has also clarified that there hasn’t been any politics involved in the team selection of the Asian Games.
Ramanathan was relentless this year participating in as many as 35 tournaments, as the lanky tennis singles player remained without an injury whatsoever. And ahead of the new season, he has been trying to open up his shoulders more and strengthening his upper body as he got a wildcard entry alongside Prajnesh Guneswaran at the Tata Open Maharashtra.
“I have been working a lot on my upper body to open up my shoulders so that I can get more power on serve and also on my legs to stay longer in the point. It will be of great help when you play on clay courts,” Ramkumar said on the sidelines of a TNTA event, reported PTI.
The 24-year-old, who is currently ranked 133 in the ATP rankings, has revealed that he has been looking to cut down on his tournament next season unlike the previous season and would be consulting his coaching team at Sanchez-Casal Academy in Spain.
“I am going to pick and chose the tournaments and try to give my best whenever I play. I have no regrets about 2018. I am still ranked 130 and there is a long way to go. And you never know with a match or two, you can go into the top 100 or out of it. “All I can say is you can expect a very good effort from me the next year and hopefully I am healthy and play throughout the year,” he said.
In Davis Cup, India
“We have a great team. It is going to be fast and low-bouncing. So we have a chance. There will be a lot of support for us. Even against Serbia, it was a very close tie. It was a really close match. I started off well and lost the second set, a difference of few points and then it fell apart for us. But if we are all fit and play our best we can definitely upset Italy and make the breakthrough,” Ramkumar added.
The exclusion of Leander Paes from India’s Asian Games squad had stirred controversy with many doubting politics being played in team selection. Ramanathan, who was previously paired with Paes before the latter pulled put, denied all such accusations.
“I mean, he is Leander. He is a good friend of mine. I have nothing against him. I wish he would have played that because it is the Asian Games. Anything could have happened. I mean we all missed him there. I mean I missed him. I was supposed to play with him. But it is how it is,” he added.
