Jeevan aims to jump 20 places in rankings by year end to play more Slams

Missing out on Davis Cup despite impressive results this season may have caused some heartache to Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan but he has now trained his eyes on playing consistently at the Grand Slams by taking his ranking to top-60 by the year-end.

This year Jeevan has enjoyed one of the most successful seasons of his career. Last week at the Chengdu Open he reached only the second ATP250 level final with American partner Austin Krajicek.

Before that he made seven finals on the Challenger circuit, winning three titles -- Winnetka, Ilkley, Dallas. He ended runner-up at Nottingham, Savannah, Tallahassee, Lille.

Despite these results and being placed higher than his compatriot, he was not selected in the Davis Cup team for the Serbia tie, which India lost 0-4.

Captain Mahesh Bhupathi had chosen N Sriram Balaji, ranked outside 100, while Jeevan was 88th at the time, saying the former had the ability to play both singles and doubles.

Jeevan left behind the snub and went to reach Chengdu Open final, where he and his partner lost Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic. En route the final, Jeevan and Krajicek beat Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak, one of the formidable teams now on circuit.

Was he all fired up before the tournament?
"I'm sure they are smart people who are paying a keen eye to how all the Indians are performing week in and week out. I don't want to get involved in those processes. Would rather wear the blinders and run my race."
Talking about the Chengdu Open, Jeevan said, "It was a good week for us especially with our best match coming in the semifinals. (Joao) Sousa was playing incredibly well in Chengdu and we took a team effort to get the win."
Talking about the final, Jeevan said, "Pavic was really strong off the blocks and we had our chances in the second like any doubles match. 0 40 on Dodig at 1-2 was the biggest opportunity. But they were the better team on the day and hopefully we get to play against them more often on the bigger stages."