Mumbai: In his first full year as a professional tennis player, teen Aryan Shah has already experienced the rollercoaster that it tends to be for most pros out there: travelling week after week for tournaments, taking in the confidence-building victories and difficult defeats, relishing the feel of clinching a title, soaking in new experiences, which, in Aryan’s case, was becoming a Davis Cupper.
Riding through that “rollercoaster”, as Aryan puts it, the 18-year-old has made steady progress in his debut year as a pro after a promising junior run that saw him reach a career-high ranking of world No.39 in January last year while competing in all four junior Grand Slams.
This season in his pro plunge, Aryan captured his first singles Futures title at the men’s 15K ITF event in Kingston last May, made another final and a couple of semi-finals in 25K events. His most recent last-four entry was at the ITF Bhubaneswar tournament last week, where he beat reigning national champion Rethin Senthil before losing to the top seed and eventual champion Dalibor Svrcina from Czech Republic ranked 254.
Aryan is currently placed 621 in the ATP singles charts, the youngest among the top 10 from the country and already the India No.6 aiming to finish his first professional year even higher.
“Competing professionally full time, everything was a new experience for me. It does feel a bit different, dealing with different kinds of players and of various age groups. But I think I’ve managed it pretty well so far,” Aryan said.
The Bhuj-born teen trains at the Altevol-Alexander Waske tennis centre in Ahmedabad. His coach Swapnil Desai said they planned his transition from juniors to pro last year, ensuring he ended his junior career inside the top 100 so that he could get into the main draws of ITF events this season.
“I played a lot of great guys in the junior Slams last year,” Aryan said. “The major difference coming into pros is the mentality of players. They don’t give free points, like in juniors, and the rallies go that much longer.”
Getting his first singles pro title in Kingston — where he also won a doubles title and made another final with Leo Borg, son of Bjorn Borg — early in the season was a boost in belief. “Winning a 15K, having not played many Futures tournaments before, was a good jump for my confidence. I felt like I deserve to be here with these guys, and I know my level.”
Aryan’s progress propelled his Davis Cup debut, being named in India’s squad for the tie in Sweden in September. “That was a great moment. That attire, the India blazer, you cannot buy it. And I knew I had worked hard for it,” he said.
The teen realises there is room for improvement in “my entire game”. He has a decent serve, is fairly solid from the baseline and isn’t averse to moving out of his comfort zone on court. In this week’s ITF Mumbai tourney, Aryan tried an underarm serve. He also plays doubles in tournaments to get more comfortable on the net and imbibe that into his singles game. “I’m still 18. I have to grow every aspect of my game and make them sharper,” he said.
“The challenge now will be to develop his endurance and make him physically stronger,” Desai said.
For now, Aryan aims to end the year ranked between “400-500”. That will land him into ATP Challenger events next season (four of them are lined up in India in February). “Challengers is where the real tennis journey starts,” Aryan said.
