In her stunning run at the ongoing WTA 125 event in Mumbai — from the qualifiers to the second round — Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi has exuded confidence and displayed a fearless approach, which is rare for a 15‐year‐old playing just her fifth senior tournament.
The WTA 125 is the second‐highest level in professional women’s tennis, just below the main WTA Tour. Awarded a qualifying wildcard by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, Maaya defeated World No. 264 Nicole Fossa Huergo of Italy (6–3, 3–6, 6–0) and World No. 434 Jessica Failla of the US (7–6^(9), 1–6, 6–4) to become the youngest Indian to earn a WTA point.
In her main‐draw opener, she defeated World No. 225 Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus (6–4, 6–1). In the biggest tournament of her fledgling career, Maaya — who likes to be aggressive like Serena Williams and Aryna Sabalenka — has shown maturity in constructing points, be it by opening up the court during a baseline rally or by rushing to the net.
All three of Maaya’s opponents had been playing professional tennis on the senior circuit long before she took her first lesson.
Maaya’s tennis journey began as an after‐school activity for an eight‐year‐old child in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. She was first coached by K.G. Ramesh, a former India No. 1 player, before moving to the Pro Serve Tennis Academy in Coimbatore, where she has been training under Manoj Kumar for the past five years.
“What impressed me most about her was her self‐belief. Her mental makeup was very strong even at such a young age. I think that stood out amongst the rest of the kids,” the 57‐year‐old Manoj told Sportstar while recalling his early days of coaching Maaya.
Indeed, Maaya is one of the most promising young talents in the country in recent years. She was invited by the Australian Open organisers to take part in an Under‐14 event in Melbourne that ran concurrently with the major tournament in 2023. In 2024, she made her junior Grand Slam debut at the same venue, losing to Germany’s Sonja Zhenikhova in the first round of qualifiers.
Starting as a qualifier at the Senior National Championships in October, she finished as a runner‐up. Last month, she won a J300 event in Delhi — her sixth and biggest singles title win so far. The triumph in Delhi helped her break into the Top 60 in the ITF Junior Rankings and could be a huge boost for her goal of playing in the remaining junior Slams this season.
READ | WTA Mumbai Open: Teenager Maaya continues dream run, reaches second round; Ankita, Shrivalli progress
For further improvement in her game, Maaya has already earned the golden chance to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy, run by the 22‐time Major champion.
Maaya was invited for trials last October at the academy on the Spanish island of Mallorca. “It’s not exactly a ‘trial’. You just train normally with other people. There are no tests; you just train with others, and they take notice of what you do,” recalled the teenager.
A week before the trials, she picked up an injury in a tournament in Spain, but what followed proved why juniors around the world want to be at Nadal’s academy. “As soon as I went there (at the Rafa Nadal Academy), I couldn’t start practising immediately. But the physios took very good care of me. I guess one of their biggest strengths is their physio team – they have an excellent setup, and I was able to be on the court very quickly. That was my first impression of the academy, and I was very happy with it,” Maaya said.
Maaya also got to witness Nadal preparing for his final professional tournament during her stay. “I did see Rafa training before the Davis Cup. That was the week I was there for the trials. They did allow me to go see him for a bit. I was very inspired to see him in the first place. I thought he’s achieved so much in life, but he’s still hungry to get more. So, it was very inspiring to see him train every day on court,” she said.
While she did get to train for some time at the academy soon after being offered a 100 per cent scholarship, she can officially join the programme when she moves to Mallorca after the Mumbai Open.
It was Manoj who told Maaya about the prospect of moving abroad at a certain point. “I always felt that she needed to move base after reaching a particular level because facilities and competitions are much bigger in Europe,” he said.
According to Manoj, another crucial part of Maaya’s growing career graph is the transition to the senior level. “At this point, it should be a judicious mix of both playing on the junior and senior circuits, but she needs to make the grade pretty quickly in terms of competing in the women’s section. By this year’s end, our basic aim is that she should focus a lot more on playing the women’s circuit – basic USD 15,000 and USD 20,000 ITF tournaments – and also focus on playing the higher‐level junior tournaments. To get her into a situation where matches are tough for her will provide a valuable learning curve at a very early age,” he opined.
“Playing on the women’s circuit is definitely going to be tough, especially if you’re based in Europe, where the level is so much higher. But that is a test she needs to take to see how she fares against better players, to understand where she is, and to gain an idea of where she needs to go,” he added.
Maaya knows the one area where she definitely needs to keep improving when she plays at the senior level — her intensity throughout the match. “The women always maintain the same intensity throughout a match on the senior circuit. Even if you’re better than the opponent, sometimes, if they’re more experienced than you, they can still beat you,” she explained.
Revathi, who has travelled the world with Maaya and helps with her education at the National Institute of Open Schooling, will move to Mallorca with her. Meanwhile, her father, Rajeshwaran, manages the financial aspects of her game while working at Mondelez International in Coimbatore.
“Maaya will continue the remainder of her ninth grade at the Rafa Nadal International School,” said Revathi. “She is ready to relocate, although she will miss her dad, her family, the academy in India and, of course, Manoj Sir. But she has a clear aim, and she is moving towards it. She has prepared her mindset to go further.”
