HYDERABAD: Fit-again
Pranjala Yadlapalli
, a promising tennis player from Hyderabad, is eager to return to action but lack of tournaments is not helping her cause.
Pranjala was hit by back trouble at a very crucial phase in her career. And almost a year ago, 21-year-old Pranjala started training with renowned physio
Paul Ness
and his wife
Stacey Ness
in Australia. The decision to shift base to Australia in Feb 2020 worked well for the former Asian junior champion as the world came to a standstill due to the pandemic.
She made a quick recovery. Pranjala, who was at the peak of her career in 2018 when she was world No. 280, posted her career-best win against former world No. 20 player
Daria Gavrilova
in the UTR Melbourne series last November. Pranjala won 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 but lost 6-2, 6-4 to Storm Sanders in the final.
It was her second tournament after a long layoff as she had won the UTR Pro Tennis title in Melbourne last July defeating the then world No. 37-ranked US doubles player Desirae Krawczyk 6-3, 6-3.
However, Pranjala, ranked No.688, has not played competitive tennis since then. "The Australian Open is starting in a few days but I could not make the qualification tournament as it was held in Dubai. Due to Covid-19 related travel restrictions, I couldn't participate in the qualifiers," she told TOI on Tuesday.
"Luckily I recovered quickly thanks to rehab sessions by Paul Ness. I am fit and raring to go. I wanted to be here for four months. Because of the pandemic I had to change my plans. I am playing without pain. The move to come to Australia seems to be the right decision," she said.
Pranjala has overcome a career-threatening back injury but lack of sponsors is another hurdle she's facing. GoSports is supporting her but is not enough. "I am really thankful to GoSports for their support. I have been spending more than A$3,000 per month (approx Rs 1.70 lakh) here. If I need to play more tournaments, I need more money," she added.
"Pranjala can achieve good results and if we can find a sponsor. She's just 21 now and we are hopeful of finding a right sponsor," Pranjala's father
Y Kishore
, a businessman, said.
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