PUNE: Shruti Ahlawat has been a transformed player — on and off the court — in 2022.
Riding on her ITF Asia-Oceania B1 junior title triumph, her third title of the season, the Delhi girl has risen to No. 49 in the latest world junior tennis rankings.
It is her career-best ranking, improving on the 69 he had finished at last year following a runner-up finish in the same tournament.
All of 16, she will get to play all the Junior Grand Slams in 2023, for the second year in a row.
But Shruti’s metamorphosis is neither superficial nor restricted to the technical.
“I am little (more) arrogant now. That’s what people have been saying but actually I am more confident,” Shruti said after winning the prestigious continental junior crown here on Saturday.
She rolled over Australian Lily Taylor 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the hard-court event at Deccan Gymkhana.
Her voice was calm and firm. More importantly, she had looked happy the whole week, compared to last year when a tennis elbow and a few other health issues had given her a sullen look, despite reaching the final.
“I was generally not well the past two-three months. People have been critical of my performance. This trophy is for them,” said Shruti, referring to criticism she had copped after a qualifying first-round loss at Wimbledon, preceded by a string of early exits in various tournaments.
“I didn’t want to say anything to them. I just wanted to let my racquet speak for me.”
Her new-found confidence stems from a move to Bangkok, Thailand, six weeks ago when she started working with Stephen Koon at his Impact Academy.
Koon has a reputation for being a tough taskmaster.
While Shruti, who hails from a family of wrestlers from Jhajjar in Haryana, has a strong physical build and a natural sporting instinct, Koon — who has worked with Yuki Bhambri, Pranjala Yadlapalli and Riya Bhatia among other Indians — is bound to have a positive influence on her technical and tactical development.
“He (Koon) is tough, but he wants us to be happy. He has helped my mentality. Earlier I was a kid, now I am a little arrogant,” Shruti said with a smile.
“At first, I would hit-hit-hit and push-push-push. Now I have improved on my technique. I know when to run and when to make them (opponents) run.”
But what really sets Shruti apart from the rest of her compatriots is the audacity and street-smartness that is rare, and which separates the good athletes from the champions.
It was all there to be seen in her semifinal against Australian Emerson Jones, the third seed who took the only set Shruti dropped in the week.
The Indian trailed 1-4 in all three sets. That she still went on to snatch victory was proof of her mettle.
The audacious part came in the decider after Jones broke early to lead 3-0. What one witnessed thereafter was something to be seen to be believed.
Having held her serve for the first time in the set, Shruti began to move up and down on Jones’ serve in a bid to upset the Aussie’s rhythm.
She was pushing the rules. She would move inside the baseline while Jones bounced the ball, only to retrace her position as her opponent tossed it up.
It was no surprise then that her rival’s serve floundered. There were a couple of double-faults, and the serve was broken twice.
“If you have to win, you have to do everything. There is nothing fixed, that you do this, you don't do this. It is all according to the opponent,” Shruti would say later.
When she won the title on Saturday, Shruti — 16 years and three months old — became the second youngest Indian girl to do so.
That record belongs to none other than Sania Mirza — who was 16 and one month old when she lifted the trophy in 2002 in Delhi and would know a thing or two about what mettle champions are made of.
