A tennis player’s pre-match warm-up routine is a sacred part of their career. Good habits developed in the junior days tend to stick till the end.
For Indian youngster Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, it is a work in progress. Apart from the obvious physical exercises to get the body in the perfect state before the match, the 16-year-old also keeps her mind occupied and focused by reading books or playing chess.
“Compared to the chess standards that India has, I don’t think I play very good chess,” admits the teenager from Coimbatore in a virtual media interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India.
“It’s just something to keep me in one place and not get distracted when a lot of matches are going on,” she added.
But once Maaya steps on the court, she shows why she is considered the next big hope for Indian tennis in singles. Currently ranked 27 in the ITF Rankings - the highest amongst the Indians - she is set to compete at the junior French Open in the coming fortnight.
She enters the clay Major at Roland Garros in Paris, having already played seven tournaments on the terre battue this season with two semifinal finishes and a J300 title in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France.
In her earlier conversations with Sportstar, Maaya had mentioned that slow hard court was her favourite surface. But after shifting base to Europe to train at the prestigious Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain in 2025, the teenager has become comfortable on clay as well.
“When the physical part develops, you like to play on clay a lot. Because I’m based in Europe, I’ve been getting to play on clay a bit more than I did earlier in my career. The more I train on a certain surface, the more I belong there. That’s how it goes,” she says.
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At this stage of her career, gaining experience takes precedence over surface preference. “I don’t mind playing on any surface because as long as I step on the court and I’m ready to compete and fight it out, I’m happy to play on any surface. The experience that I’ve gained in the last year, playing multiple tournaments in multiple places on these surfaces, it’s just a matter of how you want to get on the court and play,” says the teenager who turns 17 next month.
Maaya has had a taste of competing at all four Junior Slams with main draw appearances in New York (2025) and Melbourne (2026). Now, it is about taking the next step and building on it by playing more matches on the junior circuit, along with a mix of a few senior professional tournaments.
“Our initial idea, at the beginning of the year, was that Maaya plays as many matches as possible, competes a lot and gets comfortable with her game. She has a very big game. So, we want her to develop that even more and to have that confidence in matches,” says Polina Radeva, the coach from the academy who travels with the Indian during tournaments.
“We started with the junior events in Australia (including the Junior Australian Open), then she played a couple of ITF events in India. And our idea was to stick with the junior tour and see how that goes. Because if you finish with a good ranking in juniors, the following year, you get a head start. You get some direct entrances into professional events. That’s our goal. That is one of the reasons why we’re doing so many junior events,” she added.
Published on May 22, 2026