Herald: Congratulations Natasha for winning two successive doubles crowns with Rishika Sunkara (New Delhi). What is your present ranking and what is your goal in the coming five years?
Natasha: I would love to be in top 200 at the international WTA ranking. That’s my goal. At present I am 734 (singles) and 534 (doubles). Currently the No 1 ranking is 278 in India in doubles. I have achieved my highest ranking of no.2 in India and 497 international.
Herald: What makes you say so?
Natasha:Whenever you play any sport or do any job you always want to be the best and that is what keeps you motivated to work hard and put in the effort every day.
Herald: You won in Cairo and now in Gwalior. How did you feel winning the titles?
Natasha:It’s a great feeling especially winning in Egypt because when we play tournaments abroad, there are only two Indians and lot of players from the other countries. So when you bring home the title you feel proud and also privileged that you could do something for the country and put it on the world map as a tennis nation. The Gwalior title was also a great achievement for me.
Herald: Does it mean that you represented India?
Natasha:Yes. When we play for all these events it is as playing for India. Although tennis is an individual sport everyone is putting his or her own efforts to reach the top level. Still when we play any international tournament you always play for the country and want to do it proud.
Herald: Were you expected to win at Cairo?
Natasha:We were the fourth seed. In the semi-final we had a very close match where we beat the second seeds and also overcame them (the second seeds Sandra Samir/Shelby Talcott) in a tough final winning 6-2, 6-1.
Herald: What is the Gwalior story?
Natasha:At the beginning it was cool as we lead 3-0 but the seconds seeds (Shweta Rana and Riya Bhatia) fought back and cut the lead to 3-2. We stepped up our game with some hard hitting ground strokes and firm volleys to finish the match with a score line of 6-4, 6-2. The semi-final was a tough fight but we managed to beat the India/Australia pair Alexandra Walters/Shivika Burman 6-3, 6-4.
Herald: What would be the total number of hours that you put in every day?
Natasha:I train and practise for around five hours daily. Four hours in the morning of tennis and one or two hours of gym or fitness in the evening.
Herald: How important is the fitness part?
Natasha:As the game is evolving it’s become more physical compared to before and the girls are so strong. Everyone puts in so many hours in the gym and sometimes when we see ourselves lifting more weight than the boys it makes us feel proud. I think tennis is very physical now and we have to be very strong.
Herald: Do you think you are physically prepared all the time when you go the court?
Natasha:Well, I need to improve a lot. The foreign players are naturally more athletic than us, so we need to train even harder. Yes I am getting better now physically and also improving my mental strength.
Herald: Did you ever dream that you would go this far?
Natasha:When I started in the school we were not very sure about how the whole tournaments worked out as there was not much tennis played in the State. I just enjoyed playing and slowly kept climbing up the ranking. I was at No 1 position in India in the Under-14 category and that’s when I realised that I love tennis.
Herald: What made you go into tennis and not any other game?
Natasha:My parents liked the sport. So they always wanted us to play tennis and so also me. I played a lot of sports but my parents made us play tennis.
Herald: When did you take a serious liking for the game?
Natasha:I started playing at the Gasper Dias and Raj Bhavan. The first tournament I played was in 2004. I lost the match in the initial stage, however, the next year I reached the final and that feeling was great. From then onwards I started playing more tournaments and I climbed in rankings and then I realised how tennis works out. To get into WTA women tennis association you need to play more tournaments and rise in your ranking.
Herald: Did you miss classes in school?
Natasha:I always loved studying. I started playing my first tournament when I was in Std 8. My school (Green Rosary, Dona Paula) was very supportive. They understood that to play tennis one has to keep travelling so they allowed me to miss classes and answer the exams as and when available. I studied 12th in Dempo HSS followed by Dempe College.
