Chauhan and Tyagi aiming to be among fresh wave of Indian tennis stars

It is the most populated country in the world with 1.4 billion people, but producing great tennis players has not always been easy for India.

Once upon a time, it had homegrown stars like Sania Mirza on the WTA Tour, and Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi on the ATP side, but lately it has been more of a struggle.

Two boys from India, one from the north and one from the South, competed at the US Open Junior Championships here Sunday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Their stories are different, but they both want to bring tennis glory to their country.

“I feel proud that I'm representing my country here,” said Hitesh Chauhan, who hails from Punjab.

“It’s a beautiful thing to try to have people do your sport, you know, and see your success. So I’m trying to achieve that.”

Kriish Tyagi, who is from Bangalore in southern India, added: “It’s definitely exciting to see Indian players at Grand Slams, and have people see us and our success and maybe get them to pick up a racket back home."

The two Indians lost in their first matches Sunday, while an Indian player on the girls' side, Mayaa Rajeshwaran Revathi, won her opening round match.

Rajeshwaran Revathi, who received $50,000 of funding in 2024 through the Grand Slam Player Development Programme to assist with her ongoing development, burst into the spotlight at February's WTA $125K Mumbai Open.

Entered as a wildcard into the qualifying draw, the Coimbatore-born Rajeshwaran Revathi won two matches in qualifying and then three in the main draw to reach the semi-finals, making her the first 2009-born player to reach the semis at a WTA $125K event.

But even though Tyagi and Chauhan lost their first-round matches here, they hope to advance their careers and progress along the player pathway.

Tyagi, 18, came to the sport randomly one day when he was 10.

“I turned on the TV and saw Novak Djokovic playing, and it clicked in my head and I thought it looked like something I wanted to try,” said Tyagi, currently ranked No. 49 in the ITF World Tennis Tour boys' rankings. “And so I right away tried it and liked it a lot.”

He liked it so much that after initially splitting his time between swimming and tennis, he soon turned to tennis full-time.

Tyagi, who fell to Sweden’s Ludvig Hede on Sunday, has had improved results this year, reaching the main draw at Wimbledon and getting to the third round of J300 College Park, a warm-up event for junior players ahead of the US Open, as well winning a J200 event in Kuala Lumpur.

Tyagi admits that as he dedicated himself more and more to the sport, he did not have a lot of friends joining him.

"It's not that popular in India, no, and then if there's any tennis players from India, it's only in doubles,” Tyagi said. “So, I mean, it still counts of course, but it does not get as much attention.”

Chauhan, meanwhile, is from Punjab in northern India, and he came to tennis aged four because his siblings were playing cricket, and there was a tennis court nearby.

“I liked it right away, but the level of interest in tennis wasn’t there for a lot of my friends,” Chauhan said. “Honestly, there weren’t that many kids I knew who were really into sports, more into their studies.”

For several years he has been training at the Roundglass Sports Academy, and is sponsored by Roundglass, a US-based company.

Chauhan is currently ranked No. 75 in the ITF World Tennis Tour boys' rankings and is making his second main draw appearance at a Slam after navigating qualifying. He reached the second round at Roland Garros in his other Slam showing.

“I think it wasn’t my day today, sometimes that happens in tennis,” Chauhan said. “I was a bit nervous but all credit to him, he played well.”

Chauhan, who lost his first-round match Sunday to American Maximus Dussault, said he believes tennis in India can thrive, despite the massive popularity of cricket.

“I think as more kids play in Grand Slams like this, it will motivate others to try,” Chauhan said. “I think we do have good facilities and enough good players that training in India does make you a better player, we just need to get more kids making it at this level.”

A full list of results from the US Open Junior Championships is available here