How Indian tennis stars defy the odds

(from top) Prarthana Thombare and Ankita Raina; India have confirmed their playoff berth in the Billie Jean King Cup; and Thombare.

- Deepti Patwardhan

On 12 April, as the air crackled with anticipation at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, Sohyun Park and Dabin Kim looked determined to spoil India's party with some textbook counterpunching. The deciding doubles against Prarthana Thombare and Ankita Raina in the last tie in the Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group I was effectively a knockout. Of the six teams assembled in Pune for Group I, only two would advance to the playoffs. New Zealand had already booked one spot while India and South Korea tussled for the other.

What short-circuited the South Korean game plan was Thombare's unconventional play. Right from her unusual return stance to her ability to impart direction and power on the ball with almost non-existent backswings, Thombare left her opponents guessing. It was one such stealthy forehand down the line that won India the day and sent them into the playoffs of the premier women's team tennis event—known as the World Cup of tennis.

Thombare, whose game is wired for minimum fuss and maximum effect, is known as quite the disruptor on the doubles tour. The quirks in the 30-year-old's game can be traced back to her tennis beginnings.

"There was a time in my life, when I was about 10 years old, when I spent one whole year just hitting against the wall," says Thombare, who represented India in women's doubles, along with Sania Mirza, at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Thombare started her journey in Barshi, a small town in Maharashtra's Solapur district, where even locating a hitting partner, let alone a coach, was impossible at the time. When she started competing, she had to travel 70km, to Solapur town, to fax her entry to tournaments across India.