Almost three months after hanging his racquet and calling it a day on his career, Prajnesh Gunneswaran was back at the courts in Cubbon Park, Bengaluru last week, where seven years ago he had won his second career Challenger title and first at home. The win, as he recalled, remained one of his “special memories,” as it made him the India No. 1. But unlike previous times, he had a different role to play this year at the Bengaluru Open. Instead of the racquet in hand, the 35-year-old, a former world no. 75, was present at the Challenger 125 event for broadcasting duty.
Speaking to Hindustan Times on the sidelines of the tournament, Prajnesh opened up on his decision to retire from the sport, his injury-laden career and on considering the option of coaching in the near future. The former Davis Cupper and Asian Games bronze medallist also talked about why improvement in coaching standard across the country is the only way forward for India to up their singles game. Here are excerpts…
Q) You announced your retirement towards the end of last year. How has this part of the life been so far?
Things have been good. My wrist was bothering me for a while and I hadn’t been able to fix it. So it was just about time that I take that decision. I’ve been enjoying life being in one place and not on the road constantly. It’s a nice change. I played tennis for a very big majority of my life, nearly all of it. I started when I was five. So I’m happy. I’ve done this for long enough. I’m happy to call it a day.
Of course I would have loved to play longer or have a less injury prone career, but there’s only so much one can control. It’s a professional sport and everyone’s different, bodies are different. Some get injured more often than others and that’s just the way it’s been for me. But I’m happy with how things have played out in my career. I guess I got a second wind.
Q) If I’m not wrong it was a wrist injury that saw you take a break since last year after having played in Pune. It had troubled you in 2022 as well. Could you talk about that?
I kind of started having issues with it in 2020. If you look at my results, you can see that in 2019, I retired from a match when my wrist started hurting and ever since it has been an issue that I couldn’t fix. I started rehab for a while. That was around when I was still very close to my highest ranking and doing well. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get rid of it. Then my results also started to slowly get worse because I couldn’t train the same way and at the same intensity. Over time, my ranking started to drop. It didn’t right away because of Covid the rankings were protected for some time. But unfortunately, I just couldn’t hold on to the old level anymore because my wrist never got better.
Q) How difficult was the decision because you had come close to retirement back in 2015 as well if it hadn’t been for your father?
I had no choice because of my hand and because of my wrist.
When it comes to 2015, I was very close to retiring, and that would have hurt a lot more because I felt I hadn’t fulfilled my potential, and I could have been a lot better at the time. I had probably not been ranked higher than 500-600, maybe even lower than that, if I am not mistaken. So it would have hurt more having to retire, not really doing well, and knowing how good I could have been.
So it was much or better retiring and when I did, because then I kind of got to show how good I could play or how much better I actually was than what would have been had I retired in 2015.
I still think I could have been a lot higher than I had been when I retired. Had my hand not bothered me as much or had it happened later, I would have probably ended up going higher. But it is what it is.Every athlete has their battles, and this was mine. This is the best I could get, given my circumstances, and that’s fine.
I’m very glad that my dad pushed me to continue and give it one more chance before I say that I’m going to move on to something else. So I’m really glad that I did that, and it. It worked out for me, and I ended up doing quite well.
Q) Looking back at your career, what is your fondest memory?
Tough to say. There are so many. Honestly, it was when I ended up playing a whole year without having any major issues. That was around the year after I got to 250. That’s when I played a full season, nearly 25-30 tournaments. That was very special. When I ended that year, I realised how significant that was for me, knowing how my career has always been. So I was proud of that.
But if I had to pick one single moment, it’s hard to say. I would maybe have to pick three different situations which were really big for me. Getting the call to play for India in the Davis Cup, which was a big deal. I was a reserve the first time I got called.
Next one would be breaking into the top 100.That’s one of these milestones everyone aims when they play tennis. Of course, it’s not the first thing that everybody dreams about. We all dream about winning Grand Slams. But then over time, you realise that top 100 is also a very big milestone because that’s the one that lets you play the main draws of the Grand Slams.
Third, when I won the two deciding rubbers for India against China. It’s hard to describe how that felt, being able to represent India at that level and come up with an important victory to help the team come through. That was huge!
Q) Coming back to Bengaluru, where you won your second Challenger title, how did it feel?
Bengaluru is second home for me. I trained there more than anywhere else in India, except Chennai, which is my home. It’s always nice for me to be back there. I started there when I was 15, having all these dreams and then I ended up fulfilling all a lot of my ambitions. Then to go back there when I won the title, the Challenger, that was a very big deal. Incidentally, I became India No. 1 when I won that title. That was a nice feeling to be able to do that in front of an Indian crowd. But going back there now when I’m retired and in a different chapter of my life was also very nice. It was fun too, to be able to look at things from a different perspective, a different lens now.
Q) Since Prajnesh in 2018, India have had just one other Challenger title winner (Nagal in Chennai, 2024) during the Indian ATP circuit. How concerning is that for India?
Having a lot of tournaments in India is very important. And as we’ve seen, we’ve had success where Indians have done well in the bigger tournaments, in the Futures and the Challengers. So it’s always important to have a consistent schedule of tournaments which gives our players exposure to the highest levels of competition as well as, you know, doesn’t put as much of a financial burden. So I think it’s really important to have a full schedule, and we need to have as many tournaments as possible. So there’s. There’s no two ways about it when it comes to that.
Q) Is there a way out for India?
It’s just a matter of having enough high quality coaching and enough tournaments. That’s the first step. And if that happens, if we have just 10 amazing coaches in the country in different locations and then they, each one produces good players, then over a period of time the entire level of competition, level of players will go up and they’ll push each other and then automatically these players will end up being competitive.
When the tournaments are there in India, which will hopefully be the international ones and the more international tournaments we have and the more of these players compete there, they’ll understand what it takes to win against the better players or the higher ranked players. And then over time all of this will just let the entire Indian tennis level go up and then they’ll, they’ll do well. So that’s what we need.
So, it’s a matter of having enough high-quality coaching and enough tournaments. Infrastructure is of course important, but I would not prioritise that more than these two factors.
Q) What did you make of the Indian singles field this time in Bengaluru? The likes of Prajwal and Manas did put up a great fight in the opening round.
We have some Indian players doing well now. Manas (Dhamne) is doing well. Prajwal fought well. Then we have Karan Singh. We have other Indians who are coming forward from the juniors on. It would be good to see more players. We need to have as many as possible. That’s the best way to have ourselves a chance to have a champion come through. So the general level of Indian tennis just needs to go up and hopefully if all these other things happen, which is if the ecosystem develops, then we will get results when the tournaments are being held. Of course, it’s easier said than done. It takes a lot of effort, but that’s what it takes to succeed in anything and these are the prerequisites.
Q) Would you like to take up coaching or do you have something else in mind?
I’m considering it. I will be involved in tennis, certainly, and we’ll have to see in what capacity. But I’m definitely thinking about things and just figuring out what the next step is.
Leave feedback about this