Rethin Pranav feels injury hampered Australian Open juniors’ campaign

Earlier this month, Rethin Pranav (17) had the most significant moment of his teen tennis career so far. He got to play in the main draw of the Australian Open juniors, an upgrade from playing in last year’s qualifying draw of the US Open juniors.

But a left thumb injury he’d sustained in November played a dampener. Rethin thought he’d sufficiently recovered on time for his milestone event and had even won the first set 7-5 and was 2-0 up in the second versus the then junior World No. 9 Oskari Paldanius (Finland) in the first round. But then, his injury hampered his ability to play his backhand, which his opponent exploited to win the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.

In a telephonic interview on Friday, Rethin said: “The draw was a bit unlucky. I got to play with the World No. 9 in the first round. It was a really tough match. I couldn’t play the backhand because of it (his injury). He knew that and dominated the third set. The guy I lost to played the semifinals. So, he was a really good opponent. If my hand was fine, I could have won. A bit unlucky.”

Speaking about his overall experience, he said: “It was like a dream come true! I was practicing on one court and on the next court, (Novak) Djokovic was practicing!”

Last year, Rethin made it to five finals in the ITF junior circuit, winning two titles. But his most memorable title win was his fairytale finish at the men’s Nationals, where he entered the main draw as a lucky loser, in October.

Asked what he thinks he should improve from his last season, he said: “I think my mental toughness. Footwork and agility to be faster on the court. Because, when the level is higher (high-profile competitions), I have to be very fast on the court.”

For now, he has been sidelined for at least four weeks for complete recovery and will miss the Chennai Open ATP Challenger and the Nationals Games.