Hardcourt season beckons for Somdev Devvarman

It's been a quick exit from Wimbledon 2009 for top Indian player Somdev Devvarman -- he lost in the singles qualifiers -- but on the plus side, he did get to play his debut Grand Slam match on the hallowed grounds of the All England Club.

The 24-year-old teamed up with Kevin Anderson to stretch fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles before losing in four sets in Round 1 of the men's doubles.

Though his recent form has been disappointing, especially in the light of his giant-killing run to the Chennai Open final in January, Devvarman is now ranked a career-best 129 in singles.

But his ranking could drop with Devvarman having plenty of points to defend in the coming months, thanks to some good results on the tour last year.

The Indian tennis sensation spoke to The Indian Tennis Blog about his immediate plans.

You reached your highest singles ranking of 129 this month. Any ranking goals for the year?
I have never set any goals for myself as far as rankings go. I just want to keep improving my tennis, the rankings will take care of themselves.

Also, you have a lot of points to defend in the coming months. Any strategy for doing do?
Just go out and win matches.

How was the experience of playing at Wimbledon?
It was great playing at Wimbledon. Would like to be in the singles main draw also next year.

Which tournaments will you be playing in the coming months?
I will be playing in the US hard court tournaments as the tour moves there now.

Wimbledon 2008 starts with four Indians in focus

Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna are in action at Wimbledon this week although it's tough to predict whether any of them will survive till the second week of the grasscourt Grand Slam.

Prakash Amritraj and Sunitha Rao crashed out in the second round of singles qualifying but two other Indians - Yuki Bhambri and Poojashree Venkatesh - will also be battling it out in the junior events.

Mirza, returning from a long break after wrist surgery, will be hoping to better her previous showing at Wimbledon -- reaching the second round in 2005 and 2007.

She's played two tournaments since rejoining the WTA tour and her performance hasn't been exactly impressive.

But the number 32 seed has a slightly easier draw at Wimbledon this year and her most formidable opponent should be defending champion Venus Williams in the third round.

Beating Venus on grass would seem impossible for the Indian number one but Mirza should be more than happy if she makes the elder Williams sweat it out over three sets on Centre Court.

As usual, there's no representation from India in the men's singles - although Bopanna would have been a good bet to make it through the qualifiers, had he played them. But a low ranking forced him to miss the Grand Slam this year. Last week, Bopanna replaced Amritraj as India's number one and hopefully he should be around for the U.S. Open qualifiers.

Bopanna, 28, will be making his debut at Wimbledon in the men's doubles with Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.

Mahesh Bhupathi is recovering from a few injuries of his own and it remains to be seen if he and Mark Knowles, seeded fourth here, can recapture the form that saw them bag two doubles titles earlier this year.

Leander Paes, who turned 35 last week, seems to be in better form after breaking his lacklustre partnership with Australian Paul Hanley. The Kolkatan partnered Bhupathi to the Ordina Open final last week and reached the Halle final with Czech player Lukas Dlouhy in their first outing. Paes and Dlouhy are seeded ninth here.

This week, Indian tennis fans will also be keeping an eye on the USA F15 Futures in Rochester where double NCAA champion Somdev Dev Varman is playing his first professional match since leaving college.

Sania Mirza says road to total recovery tough

Sania Mirza's loss in her comeback match at the DFS Classic at Birmingham this week suggests that India's number one tennis player may need some more time to return to top form after undergoing wrist surgery.

Marina Erakovic is no pushover. After all, she won the Surbiton event last week. But Mirza's straight-set loss to the Kiwi player was still surprising.

"There is some pain in the wrist when I play particular strokes and there are still a few movements that I find difficult," Mirza told the Indian Tennis Blog via email.

"I hope to get back soon to the level I was playing at before the injury but the road to total recovery is going to be longer than I thought."

Coming just two weeks before Wimbledon, it wasn't quite the start the 21-year-old was looking forward to on her return to the WTA Tour after three months of inactivity.

To top it all, Mirza might just miss getting seeded for the premier tennis Grand Slam after slipping to 33 in the WTA rankings.

Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek also lost in their doubles opener at Birmingham.

"Even though Sania's recovery has been swift, her wrist will still need some time to adapt to and to generate high intensity power in high pressured match situations," Mirza's trainer and physiotherapist Renuka Pinto said.

"The only way this can be achieved is by allowing the wrist to be exposed to match situations in a phased manner."