How would it feel as a promising player if one of the greatest athletes of all time was keeping a keen eye on your game in a training session? Maybe a few nerves? You would certainly want to grab the opportunity and showcase all your skills. In this context, we are referring to Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, India’s brightest tennis hope, currently training at the Rafael Nadal Academy.
In an exclusive chat with RevSportz, Maaya said this about having a brief discussion with the tennis legend, Nadal: “I did have a very small conversation with him, he is very nice,” she noted. “He is one of the most humble athletes I have seen. Very down to earth, he speaks to all players, he congratulated me on my performance in Mumbai. It was very nice of him to come and watch me play.”
The connecting point to Nadal congratulating the teenage sensation is the recently concluded Mumbai Open, where she became the first player born in 2009 or after to reach the semifinals of a WTA 125 event.
Coincidentally, she wasn’t supposed to play in the event. However, as destiny would have it, Maaya didn’t just paddle through the qualifying rounds, but went on to reach the last four of the event, eventually losing to the experienced Jill Teichmann.
“It was not a part of the programme,” said Manoj Kumar, her childhood coach. “She was back here in India for a couple of weeks. She had to get her visa to live in Spain for a year. She was awarded a wildcard to play in the qualifying event by MSLT and, in particular, Sundar Iyer.
“Frankly, if you ask me, I didn’t expect her to go to this level in that tournament because I felt that the level of the tournament was pretty good, players in the 150 to 300 range. It is a huge credit to her that she believed that she could stay on court with all those experienced players.”
So, how was the experience of taking on a seasoned campaigner like Teichmann at such a young age? Did Maaya take any learnings from the loss? She shared her thoughts on the encounter, by saying, “I am doing specific corrections in my game, but the thing is you don’t see many players in the women’s circuit play like Jill. Most of the women’s players don’t hit with heavy topspin.
“First time I played a player who hits this heavy, and that too a leftie. So, I struggled as I was facing that kind of a player for the first time. I am still working on the movements and all, I can’t say anything specific.”
Her coach made a few more observations. “Maaya’s game is based on a very aggressive style, extremely explosive from the baseline,” he said. “Her serving speed has improved but her consistency has to get much better. She can work on her net game, on her volleys, single-hand slice which adds variety to her game. I also feel that she needs to work on her defence, transitioning from defensive to offensive positions.”
Gradually, the discussion veered towards her future plans. As a subset to the question, what is the roadmap for her to make the transition from junior events to professional tennis? “My goal is to compete in all junior slams, and hopefully, I win one of them this year and make it into the top 10,” said Maaya. “In the transition from juniors to pro (tennis), I would try to fit in more women’s tournaments in between.”
There is a lot more to explore about Maaya’s journey than just her game and schedule. How and when did she take up tennis? What about her childhood memories? How did she come through the ranks in the junior circuit in India?
Here’s Maaya with a short summary about her early years: “My parents were keen on putting me into a sport. My dad believed that some kind of sport in my life would make me more disciplined. He also believed that it would keep me healthy.
“I fell in love with the sport when I was 10, and I also love to compete. So, I felt like that was the perfect choice for me. I was very happy when I won my first national tournament at 11. It was a very small tournament. I feel that was the time when my career kind of started into tennis. That tournament gave me confidence and encouraged me to pursue the sport.”
Her coach went a step further. “Around the time of Covid, she came to play (at the academy),” he said. “She wasn’t this well-built at that point of time. She was much smaller. What really struck me was the complete self-belief in her abilities. By nature, her tennis was very aggressive. That is what really stood out for me in the first couple of weeks I was watching her play.
“The first big opportunity came when she got to play the Under-14 Australian Open. Slowly, she started winning the J30s and J60s comfortably. It was not much of a challenge for her. I pushed her, challenging her to play in J100s or J200s or J300s. In the initial part of last year, she didn’t do that well. I mean, the competition was good. But she quickly realised that she needed to do so much better. Winning the J300 in Delhi in itself was a vindication of her self-belief that she can compete at that level.”
Tennis is also known as an expensive sport. So, how is the support system back home? Are Maaya’s parents supportive of her dreams? The tennis prodigy has nothing but praise for the kind of sacrifices her parents – Rajeshwaran and Revathi – have made in order to provide a platform for their child to branch out and fulfill her dreams.
“Without them, it would have been nothing,” said Maaya. “When I was a very small kid, and I told them that I wanted to take tennis professionally, they have supported me. When I have lost matches, and when I lose my spirit, they have always been there to cheer me up and encourage me to do whatever I love to do.
“My mom always travels with me, and my dad stays back because it is a bit expensive. Last year, where I didn’t win a single ITF singles tournament; three-four months of last year, I was losing in the first round, second round continuously and I think that was the time when I was so down. And my parents took my spirits up a bit. That really paid off because I really trained well in the next six months. I still didn’t win any tournaments. But the first tournament in 2025, I won it (juniors in Delhi) and it is a big tournament. They sacrificed so much for me, I hope it pays off.”
There is still a missing piece in the narrative. How did she end up at the Rafael Nadal Academy? Also, did she take time to get adjusted to a new environment? Her coach quips, “When the offer came from Nadal’s academy that they would sponsor her, even then I would say we didn’t immediately take a decision to go for it. I told her to go, be there for some time, see whether she is very comfortable there because I think that is what really matters for her. She works well only if people are comfortable with her.
“She was there for a couple of weeks in Mallorca. She kind of liked the physical training programme that they have, she said it is highly coordinated. If she gets a training programme, then she goes to a tennis court, coaches are already aware of how much she has pushed into the previous training sessions. That way, she said it is a good mix of exercise and training. She has also been put into a group where there are a lot of promising youngsters. It is a good place to be in, a highly competitive place. At the same time, you get the best of facilities.”
Just scrolling through the above lines, it feels as if Maaya must be a very intense and ambitious girl. However, her coach has a slightly different take on it. “She is very intense on the court, doesn’t like to lose,” he said. “At the same time, she is a very fun kid off the court, very chatty when she is off the court.”
Just delve a little deeper and Maaya too opens up on her interests and hobbies. She is an avid reader, but none of her favourite books are related to tennis or any other sport.
“First thing is I love to read, but I don’t read anything related to sports,” she said. “I love to watch movies. Sometimes I cook, whenever I get time. I am reading The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee. I finished Ramchandra series, it is a bit of a myth, but I can’t read so much fiction.”
It also shouldn’t come as a surprise that Maaya is inspired by a certain Serena Williams, alongside the current World No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka. The mental make-up of Maaya is built on the duo’s never-say-die attitude and feisty spirit.
Sitting on a sofa and predicting someone’s future is a hazardous task. But even a mere glance at some of her recent matches is enough to stitch a story full of burgeoning potential. To illustrate the point, just take into consideration the blazing backhand down-the-line return to win the first set against the Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich in the Mumbai Open. For a casual viewer, it might have seemed like Shymanovich was the 15-year-old, while Maaya had 2-3 years of experience. The reality was the exact opposite.
Maaya’s coach has the final words on the pupil’s huge potential: “When I took her to Valencia and met the coach there – I think his name is Pancho Alvarino, he has produced innumerable number of players – I kind of asked him: what do you think of this girl
“He frankly said, ‘As of now, I can definitely see her as a top 10 junior player, if she can progress at this rate.’ And the rate of progress she shows, she will definitely be a top 10 player. I think the potential for her is huge. I definitely see potential for her to be the next big tennis player out of India.”
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