Karman Kaur Thandi sees Mumbai Open as big chance

Budding Indian tennis player, Karman Kaur Thandi, sees the maiden entry in the WTA Mumbai Open here as a huge opportunity to rub shoulders with higher ranked players and learn from the experience.
The 19-year-old girl from Delhi today said that she has secured a wild card and is all set to play in her first WTA tournament commencing at the Cricket Club of India here on November 20.
"This (Mumbai Open) is my first WTA event. I was playing ITF Women's (tournaments). I started from 2016, when I played a few, but this year I played a couple of ITF tournaments. And next week I will be around 280-90 (WTA ranking)," the up and coming woman player told PTI today.

"So playing WTA (tournament) and getting a wild card (entry) into that, it's a big opportunity and a chance to play among better and higher ranked players," she said.
"I am going to focus on every match (in the Mumbai Open) and give my 100 per cent for every point," she quipped.
Thandi, ranked behind Ankita Raina as number 2 in the All India women's singles rankings released on November 6, has been the ASICS tennis brand ambassador for the past two years and the firm is supporting her through her journey.

The player, who has represented India in all four Grand Slams at the junior level and achieved a career-best WTA singles ranking of 307 on October 30 this year, said she has learnt significantly from playing in such tournaments.

"(I have) experiences from Junior Grand Slams. I have seen all atmospheres, stayed in that atmosphere, watching players play, practising and playing matches, playing on the same courts as of the big players. So that experience has been good for me.
"I made the 25K finals (in Niman, China in July), so it was lot of good matches I played and the final was a good match and hard loss (to Chinas Jing-Jing Lu), so I have leant from it and look forward to WTA," said Thandi, who has won three doubles ITF titles and was runner-up in three in singles.

"(I) participated in all the Junior Grand Slams and won the WTA Future Stars in Singapore - it happens along with WTA finals - in 2014. I was 15 or 16 years old when I won this tournament. It had all the Asian players participating in it, so it a was good experience for me - playing on the Centre court," she added.
The player, who trains in France, looked up to Russia's former world number 1, Maria Sharapova, as her inspiration.
"Every person has different style, but (the person) I admired most is Maria Sharapova; the way she was on court, her attitude, her discipline and her attitude and fighting spirit, what she shows on the court, that she is there to fight on every point," she remarked.