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Jonathan SelvarajESPN
India’s Rutuja Bhosale will agree that competitive tennis, especially at the lower rungs of the international circuit, can be a grind. The calendar is mostly a blur of cheap flights, a frenzied search for tournament entries, and once on location, rushing between the hotel and the courts.
These days though, the coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, Bhosale is a lot more relaxed. In the Egyptian seaside town of Sharm El Sheikh, she’s booking shuttles to the local sights and squeezing in trips to the beach in between her training sessions. The excursions aren’t coming at the expense of her tennis. Just last week, the 24-year-old won an ITF $15,000 — her first ITF title in over three years.
In contrast to the past, where she admits to being jaded at times, Bhosale — currently India’s third-highest ranked women’s singles player at WR 451 — says she’s approaching every day with a fresh outlook. “I’m feeling fresher. I’m starting from scratch again,” she says. “I’m going into a tournament with no expectations. I’m at a point where I don’t have to defend any points or anything. I have to start from the beginning.”
This, though, wasn’t the mindset that she had almost a year ago. Back then, she had gone nearly two years since her last title, and amidst a constant battle with injuries, even getting through the early rounds was proving to be a challenge. After a first-round exit at the hands of a qualifier at the ITF $25,000 tournament in Bhopal, Bhosale felt she was almost done. “I called my mom and asked if it was even realistic to go on as I was,” she recalls.
She went home to Pune and had the same difficult conversation with her father. A former national-level track athlete himself, he sat her down and asked her to explain why she wanted to play. “I didn’t get the answer immediately. It took another three days for me, to be honest. I first said I’m playing because I’m good at it. But that was not the reason, and I knew it,” she says. “Finally, I started crying and understood that I loved this sport, I loved being out there, competing and facing challenges everyday. I said all these things after such a long time. He hadn’t heard me say this for such a long time. The only thing he had heard from me was I am working hard, why am I not getting the result. He was just waiting for the right answer, which was — I love playing this sport.”
As far as she could recall, Bhosale had always loved being on court. While her form had tailed away, that hadn’t always been the case. She was considered to be one of the most promising names back in the early 2010s on the junior circuit across India. She had won the Asian Junior Championships in Chennai in 2011 — which catapulted her into the top 55 of the ITF juniors rankings — while simultaneously beginning her senior pro career as a 15-year-old. Her performance had also earned her a scholarship to the University of Texas, where she played collegiate tennis for four years.
“If I play and train regularly, I’m optimistic that I can make the top 250 by the middle of next year.”
Rutuja Bhosale
But her early push wasn’t without cost. In her first year of college, Bhosale says she noticed the first signs of a muscle tear to her labrum — the cartilage that lines the ball and socket joint of the shoulder. College facilities, including a physiotherapist, meant she could manage her condition over the course of her studies. The physical conditioning done to her shoulder held out after her graduation, as well as the first year of her subsequent return to the pro ranks. She did begin with two titles on the ITF circuit, but it did not last.
“Whenever I got any momentum, the injury would always pull me back. I could never compete in enough tournaments. I’d win a lot of first sets but my body would never last over the course of the tournament,” she says.
The injury wasn’t just a concern in tournaments but held her back from practising as much as she wanted as well. “The fact that I wasn’t a 100 percent was terrible. I’d always keep thinking why my shoulders couldn’t be a 100 percent. I was doing everything correctly. I was doing my rehab and training, but why was my shoulder letting me down?” she says.
Bhosale knew there was an alternative path that many Indian tennis players had taken before — switch to doubles. She did have a fair amount of success in the format — she’s currently ranked 204 in the world. However, she vowed to never go down that road. “Of course, it would have been easier. There were times in the last two years where I’d have no success in singles, but I’d win the doubles event because I didn’t have to put so much stress on the shoulder. I knew I could do well in doubles but I didn’t want to play doubles. I’ve always wanted to focus on singles,” she says.
Having answered her own question about her purpose on the tennis court, Bhosale has been working on getting herself into the physical condition she wants to be in. Although she hasn’t undergone any surgeries, Bhosale has been working with a new doctor since the end of last year and travels full-time with a designated physiotherapist.
She returned to action in February this year at the Fed Cup, where there were positive signs in her match against World No. 35 Shuai Zhang, whom she led by a break before going down in straight sets.
The pandemic-caused break has helped too by giving her additional time to heal. “I’m much stronger than I was at the start of the lockdown,” she says. “I took the lockdown as an injury break. It wasn’t as if I had to watch movies or read books. I had rehab to do. I’ve had issues with my wrist and hip flexors too. In fact, the three months of the lockdown were when I got some of my best training. In the past three months of practice, I feel I’ve played more tennis than I had in the last two years. I’ve done so much gym work. I was very proud that I could push my limits even in push-ups and pull-ups. And all of that will help me for next year.”
Those plans aren’t definite, though. Due to the pandemic, Bhosale will have to scout hard for any tournaments. “There’s not a lot of tournaments anymore because they’ve either been cancelled or there are very strict quarantine requirements for Indians to travel,” she says. Even when it seems that neither of those factors apply, the drop in supply means that it isn’t always possible to get an entry in the draw. Bhosale was supposed to take part in an ITF $25,000 tournament in Turkey, but found herself out of even the qualification mark. “That tournament had a Grand Slam winner in Vera Zvonareva taking part. I’ve never seen a Slam winner playing an ITF before, but there are just not enough tournaments to go around.”
For now, the Indian will do what she can in Egypt. She competes twice more in Sharm El Sheikh, this week and next week, and is hopeful of doing well and boosting her rankings further. “I’m not sure what my calendar will look like, but hopefully my shoulder stays injury-free. If I play and train regularly, I’m optimistic that I can make the top 250 by the middle of next year,” she says.
That, in turn, might give her a shot at playing the Grand Slam qualifiers for the first time — another long-term ambition for her. However, Bhosale isn’t looking all that far ahead just yet.
“Right now, I’m just happy doing something that I love. I’m taking each day as it comes.”