No wildcard, no problem.
Despite a busy schedule during the last two months, Karan Rastogi was hitting at the Cricket Club of India courts on Tuesday, preparing to give his best at his home tournament, the Mumbai Open, that will run from September 24 to 30.
"I was expecting a wildcard, but it's all right," shrugged Rastogi, who will have to go through the three qualifying rounds, which begin from Saturday, to enter the main draw.
India's Rohan Bopanna and the US-based Somdev Dev Varman were awarded the first two wild cards, before the organisers gave the third and last to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer to add star value to the event.
"Even playing the qualifiers has its advantages. You are more used to the conditions and get extra points," says the 20-year-old, ranked 346 in the world.
"I've been playing a lot in the last two months; so am definitely not short of match practice."
The Mumbai player has struggled since splitting with long-time coach Sanjay Poddar since his triumph at the Morocco Futures' clay tournament, suffering four straight first-round losses. In Spain last week, he exited in the second round, losing to Juan-Luis Rascon-Lope 4-6, 4-6.
"The results could've been better, but I can't be too hard on myself. I need to stay focussed and try to do better," said Rastogi, who has joined forces with Mohesh Koregaonkar.
Mohesh, son of late R V Koregaonkar, an accomplished tennis coach, runs a tennis academy in New York and has coached the likes of Venus and Serena Williams and Andy Roddick.
"I have a new travelling coach now. He's more experienced, has been on the tour. I thought it was important to hire someone like him to go up a level.
"I had met him a couple of years ago in the US. Nothing came of it then but this time I hit with him once or twice and we gelled well."
Despite the early problems, Rastogi is hopeful that the partnership will click sooner rather than later.
Rastogi is a part of an up-and-coming bunch of Indian players, all of whom have done well at recent international tournaments. The Mumbai lad won his first clay tournament in Morocco, Davis Cupper Prakash Amritraj became the first player since Leander Paes to enter an ATP quarter-final in Newport, while Varman won the NCAA championship and qualified for the Washington ATP.
"Yeah, there was a time (just after Wimbledon) when all of us were doing well, though in different places. We motivate each other a lot. But tennis is an individual sport and we are all competing against each other too."
At the Chennai Open this year, when he won the first round against Thiago Alves to set up a high-profile second round with Rafael Nadal, Rastogi admitted that there was talk from certain quarters about him receiving too many wildcards for ATPs and not making the most of the opportunities.
If he can crack the qualifiers and go deeper into the tournament, he can at least silence the cynics!
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