Panav Jha has been attracting plenty of publicity throughout his teenage years for his tennis brilliance. But the lanky ace has been competing around the world for the past few years so it was a massive homecoming for the 19-year-old prodigy when he played Wayne Ferreira in the KPMG Legends tournament at the Ritz-Carlton courts two weeks ago.
The match was played to eight games in a single pro set in pretty windy conditions and the seasoned South African won comfortably 8-4 proving that experience still helps considerably against a younger, fitter opponent.
Despite the loss, Jha thoroughly enjoyed himself, playing before friends and family here for the first time in years. “This was my first serious tournament ever in the Cayman Islands,” Jha said. “It was good to play Wayne. It was a pity it wasn’t two sets out of three because I felt I could have found my way in the match with a little more time.
“But he’s definitely a Legend veteran and obviously been around for some time and no stranger to the game. He said afterwards he’s been in these conditions millions of times and I was just getting used to it. On the ground I felt we were even, but I wasn’t serving too great, I’m struggling with that right now but he definitely found his game at the end.”
Jha is a sophomore at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and has his final biology exams next week. He is a pre-med major and could follow his father, Dr Mahendra Jha into medicine. “The medical profession appeals because after doing tennis all these years, getting a desk job would be pretty tedious.”
In January, Jha will play in Hawaii before the US college season starts. His university is ranked sixth overall nationally and he is confident they can climb higher and even win the title.
He is 20 in February and still focused on becoming a world class pro, trying to emulate hero Roger Federer. “My tennis career is still a work in progress. Growing up I wasn’t around the best players and I had to make do with what I had and I’m grateful for that.
“My goal is still the same and I want to make it in professional tennis to say ‘this was good for me’. So hopefully, after my college studies are done I could say that. I could be at college for another three or four years but it may only be one if I play outstanding tennis and going pro would be the best option right now.
“I’m hoping to finish my degree because I’m in no rush to go on the pro tour. As much as I would love it, the tour will also be waiting for me.”
Over the last few weeks, Jha has beaten some of America’s top 50 college players. He is in good company in Kentucky because one of his team-mates is ranked No.2 and another NO.18 nationally. “It’s great training with them and the best part is that I’m not too far off. Hopefully, it’s just a case of putting it all together.”
He is pleased that the tennis scene here is picking up again. “It’s good to see that local kids are actually competing in this Legends environment. The next step for them is to start taking it a little more seriously and go from playing three hours a week to almost two hours a day.
“The reason a lot of them are not breaking through is because they don’t understand how much time it takes and all the fine tuning. Hopefully, they’ll come to realise and that’s when the programme will really be at its peak.
“Being involved with the Legends tournament was cool. Even though it wasn’t an official tournament with ranking points, it was very nice to play in front of my parents. It was the first time I’ve played against a good opponent in front of my parents. It was nice too to play in front of my friends and so many people in the crowd who I played when I was younger. And playing a guy like Wayne who is really nice was great.
“Clearly, he’s made 36 grand slams for something because he can still play and maybe next time I can pull it off playing pro sets.”
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