Devvarman’s Warming Up—Nathan’s Blog

Written by: Staff on 8th December 2011

Devvarman’s Warming Up—Nathan’s Blog |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

The up-n-coming Somdev Devvarman reached his record high of No.62 in 2011. Devvarman finished the season as No. 84, but had hopes of breaking the top 50 by the season’s end. It’s been nearly four years since Devvarman turned pro with a slow but steady rise up the ranks, and it may take a few years more to see him playing where he one day sees himself—the Top 8.

Devvarman began playing tennis at the age of nine, but didn’t get his real start until he began playing collegiate tennis in the U.S.A. Playing collegiate tennis was more of a leap of faith for Somdev Devvarman than a conscious career move. Devvarman always had the intention of playing professionally for India and would have jumped into the professional ring much earlier had he not gone the collegiate route.

However, much of his professional success and confidence is attributed to his days playing for the University of Virginia. It all began when University of Virginia tennis coach Brian Boland flew to Devvarman’s hometown of Chennai, India—a city inhabited by 7.4 million people. Brian Boland journeyed to Chennai on a whim about Devvarman’s potential. That whim was later attributed to destiny as the difficulty of finding Devvarman in such a large city turned into a coincidental walk across the street from Boland’s hotel room to Devvarman’s home.

The deal was sealed and months later Devvarman was named ACC freshman of the year. Even with such immediate success Devvarman had doubts about his collegiate career during the first two years at University of Virginia. The doubts later grew to love of the atmosphere and companionship he built with his teammates.

With his doubts behind him he embraced the college life and his degree in sociology, making the NCAA his playground. At the NCAA singles finals during his junior year he astonished the crowd when he won the Championship title with an ace past John Isner. After winning three consecutive NCAA titles, Devvarman became the fourth player in 50 years to win NCAA titles consecutively. Some even say his 44-1 win loss record during his senior year is unprecedented. Last of all by his senior year’s end he was named male athlete of the year by University of Virginia.

Following graduation Devvarman went on to achieve his aspirations of professional tennis which he immediately began with a bang, racing from a ranking of number 500 to 250 by the 2008 season’s end. He made his first finals in 2009 at the Chennai Open. In the 2011 season Devvarman made his second final’s appearance at the SA Tennis Open, in Johannesburg where he finished runner up.

As Aesop once said slow and steady wins the race—meaning even though Devvarman has no ATP World Tour titles yet, we’ll probably see his true potential come as he moves onto his late twenties and early thirties. Even with the norm for tennis superstars to be at their prime around Devvarman’s tender age of 26, it seems like Devvarman is just getting started.

Topics: Somdev Devvarman