Ramkumar upbeat despite defeat in maiden ATP final
A “calmer and focussed” Ramkumar Ramanathan is not crying over losing out on the chance to end India’s ATP title drought and said he would rather savour the priceless moment of earning his maiden singles final on ATP World Tour.
Ramkumar became the first Indian in seven years to advance to the singles final of an ATP World Tour event but missed out on ending India’s 20-year title drought when he lost the Hall of Fame final 5-7, 6-3, 2-6 to American third seed Steve Johnson on Sunday night.
“I was disappointed for not winning the final but it is tough to reach this far. I just fell short. I will watch the match (recording) again and see (what went wrong) but it’s a learning experience. And nothing can buy this moment, so I will take positives out of it,” Ramkumar said.
The last Indian to win an ATP singles trophy was Leander Paes, who incidentally had won on the grass courts of the same Hall of Fame tournament in 1998.
Ramkumar was not in great form coming into the tournament, having lost four firstround matches in a row -- Winnetka, Recanati, Wimbledon qualifiers and Ilkley -- but went on to create the best week of his career thus far.
He said by adding meditation and yoga to his routine, he has learnt to transform himself from being someone who will be defensive when attacked, to a player who will not buckle in pressure cooker situations.
Plus, after the big confidenceboosting win over top-10 player Dominic Thiem at Antalya Open in 2017, things have been falling in place for the Chennai boy.
“I had tough days before this but I am trying to be calmer and focussed. I now meditate every morning and it helps in staying calm in tough situations. It helps in keeping things under control,” Ramkumar said.
“I regularly took yoga and meditation classes when I was 12-13 years old but then I stopped. Now for the past one year I have added it to my routine and it does make a huge difference to my game. I am not putting myself under pressure now.
“I have been working on it and try to stay fresh and keep 100 percent energy on the court. The second round the match against Denis Kundla (at Newport) was tough but I remained composed.
“Then Leander Paes was also watching from the stands and supported me. Sanjay sir also guided me. These little things also helped me stay mentally strong.”