London: Maybe it was the heat, at 32 degrees, the hottest opening day in the history of the tournament. Maybe it was his opponent, the 19-year-old left-hander, Learner Tien , who knows how to grind, whatever the surface or conditions. Or it could just be that things came to a boil for the 20-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy in his Wimbledon main draw debut on Monday.
The 5ft 11’ Indian-American led 4-1 and 5-2 in the opening set, and had three set points in the ninth game when he was serving for an early advantage, and then again a couple more in the next game.
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Basavareddy, who studied data analysis in Stanford, before putting a pause to his college education in December, made some nervous choices in shot selection in the twohour 10-minute encounter. The one that stood out came on his second set point, the 20-year-old went up for a dropshot on the backhand side and the ball didn’t even reach the net.
Tien, who sparkled under the London sun, particularly on longer points, came through 7-6 (5),6-3, 6-2.
“That drop shot was a little bit of a bailout shot, I should have played the point better, waited for my chance,” Basavareddy said. “I succumbed to the pressure he put on me. The first set was a good level, but I need to get better physically. I had a lot of chances in the first set, five chances, and had I taken one of them, it could’ve been different.”
There was no coming back from the vicissitudes of the 67-minute set on a blazing hot day. Basavareddy, who appeared rattled as the match slipped from his grasp, talking to himself and his team, couldn’t turn it around even after a prolonged bathroom break after the second set.
Tien and Basavareddy, born in Irvine and Newport Beach in California, some seven miles apart, are also separated by seven months in age, and are among the new wave of American players. They first faced each other over a decade ago in an U-8 tournament in the USA and Basavareddy finished on top on that occasion. This is the duo’s first meeting at a Tour-level event, but they met twice in Challengers last year and Tien, ranked 62 to Basavareddy’s 100, came out on top both times.
The 5ft 11’ Indian-American led 4-1 and 5-2 in the opening set, and had three set points in the ninth game when he was serving for an early advantage, and then again a couple more in the next game.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
Basavareddy, who studied data analysis in Stanford, before putting a pause to his college education in December, made some nervous choices in shot selection in the twohour 10-minute encounter. The one that stood out came on his second set point, the 20-year-old went up for a dropshot on the backhand side and the ball didn’t even reach the net.
Tien, who sparkled under the London sun, particularly on longer points, came through 7-6 (5),6-3, 6-2.
“That drop shot was a little bit of a bailout shot, I should have played the point better, waited for my chance,” Basavareddy said. “I succumbed to the pressure he put on me. The first set was a good level, but I need to get better physically. I had a lot of chances in the first set, five chances, and had I taken one of them, it could’ve been different.”
There was no coming back from the vicissitudes of the 67-minute set on a blazing hot day. Basavareddy, who appeared rattled as the match slipped from his grasp, talking to himself and his team, couldn’t turn it around even after a prolonged bathroom break after the second set.
Tien and Basavareddy, born in Irvine and Newport Beach in California, some seven miles apart, are also separated by seven months in age, and are among the new wave of American players. They first faced each other over a decade ago in an U-8 tournament in the USA and Basavareddy finished on top on that occasion. This is the duo’s first meeting at a Tour-level event, but they met twice in Challengers last year and Tien, ranked 62 to Basavareddy’s 100, came out on top both times.
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