Nirupama Vaidyanathan
Encyclopedia
Nirupama Sanjeev is a former Indian
female professional
tennis
player. She was known as Nirupama Vaidyanathan before marriage.
Nirupama was born in the Southern Indian town of Coimbatore
and started playing tennis at the age of 5. She was influenced very much by her cousins, K.G.Suresh and K.G. Ramesh, and her brother Ganesh, all of whom played tennis at the national level. Her father K.S. Vaidyanathan was a cricketer who had played for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Cricket tournament coached her at the start of her career. Her first tennis tournament foray was the National Under 12 tournament, where she reached the semi-final and went on to win her 1st National title in Under 14 age group at the age of 13. One year later in 1991, she won the National Women’s title at age 14. She won the National Women’s title in 1992-1996. In her younger days she did not have much competition in the Girls draw and she played in the Boys draw and won most of the titles.
In 1996, she moved to Luxembourg where she underwent training to play professional tennis. She turned professional at the age of 18 and started playing mainly in Europe. Nirupama shifted her base to Sarasota, USA in 1997 where she trained with David O Meara who was the former coach of Leander Paes
for two years. By then her ranking was in the 160s and in 1998 Australian Open, she became the first Indian woman in the modern era to feature and win a round at a main draw Grand Slam
, beating Italy's Gloria Pizzichini
. She has also won the Bronze Medal
at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games
in Mixed Doubles, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi
. For the past five years, Nirupama has been on the expert commentary team along with Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj
for ESPN-STAR sports, one of Asia’s biggest TV networks for the four Grand Slams. Nirupama also runs a tennis coaching camp in the Bay Area, California. http://www.nirustennis.com/She made a comeback in 2010 when she represented India to play in the Commonwealth Games 2010 and in Asian games in Guangzhou as a 33 year old.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
female professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player. She was known as Nirupama Vaidyanathan before marriage.
Nirupama was born in the Southern Indian town of Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
and started playing tennis at the age of 5. She was influenced very much by her cousins, K.G.Suresh and K.G. Ramesh, and her brother Ganesh, all of whom played tennis at the national level. Her father K.S. Vaidyanathan was a cricketer who had played for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Cricket tournament coached her at the start of her career. Her first tennis tournament foray was the National Under 12 tournament, where she reached the semi-final and went on to win her 1st National title in Under 14 age group at the age of 13. One year later in 1991, she won the National Women’s title at age 14. She won the National Women’s title in 1992-1996. In her younger days she did not have much competition in the Girls draw and she played in the Boys draw and won most of the titles.
In 1996, she moved to Luxembourg where she underwent training to play professional tennis. She turned professional at the age of 18 and started playing mainly in Europe. Nirupama shifted her base to Sarasota, USA in 1997 where she trained with David O Meara who was the former coach of Leander Paes
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes, pronounced pās, is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament...
for two years. By then her ranking was in the 160s and in 1998 Australian Open, she became the first Indian woman in the modern era to feature and win a round at a main draw Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
, beating Italy's Gloria Pizzichini
Gloria Pizzichini
Gloria Pizzichini is an Italian tennis player. She reached her highest singles ranking, World No. 45, on 18 November 1996, the same year she won her only WTA Tour title. In the 1996 "M" Electronika Cup final, she defeated domestic player Silvija Talaja 6–2, 6–0 to collect the trophy...
. She has also won the Bronze Medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games
Tennis at the 1998 Asian Games
Tennis were contested at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand from December 8 to December 18, 1998. Tennis had team, doubles, and singles events for men and women, as well as a mixed doubles competition.-Medal winners:-Medal table:-Men:...
in Mixed Doubles, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi
Mahesh Bhupathi
Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi is an Indian professional tennis player widely regarded as among the best doubles players in the world with 11 Grand Slam titles to his credit. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam tournament...
. For the past five years, Nirupama has been on the expert commentary team along with Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj
Vijay Amritraj
Vijay Amritraj is a former Indian tennis player, sports commentator and actor.Amritraj was born in Chennai, India to Maggie Dhairyam and Robert Amritraj. He and his brothers, Anand Amritraj and Ashok Amritraj, were among the first Indians to play in top-flight international tour tennis...
for ESPN-STAR sports, one of Asia’s biggest TV networks for the four Grand Slams. Nirupama also runs a tennis coaching camp in the Bay Area, California. http://www.nirustennis.com/She made a comeback in 2010 when she represented India to play in the Commonwealth Games 2010 and in Asian games in Guangzhou as a 33 year old.