My next goal is a junior grand slam by 2016: Zeel

AHMEDABAD: Fifteen year old Zeel Desai of Ahmedabad became the U-18 girl's national champion defeating top-seeded Abinikka R of Tamil Nadu 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
Zeel and her partner Devanshi Bhimjiyani, also of Gujarat, lost to Vanshika Swahney of Delhi and Ramya Natrajan of Tamil Nadu 1-6, 3-6 in the doubles semifinal.
Zeel's stint with Peter Smith, Lleyton Hewitt's Australian coach, Down Under during May-June this year has started to show results.The Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG) took Zeel under their wings and has been sponsoring her since last year after witnessing her potential to be a future champion.
Zeel, who has won more than 55 national titles, played the game since she was six years old. But for the first couple of years, it was just for fun but talented Zeel started showing so much promise that it was difficult for the parents to keep her away from competitive tennis.
Now she has made it a habit of winning and has started to dream big. She has three dreams. First, to be the No 1 player in India in her category. Second, to play in the junior grand slam and third, to play in the senior grand slam.
"Now my next goal is to play in the junior grand slam by 2016 and then move to the pro circuit," said an elated Zeel after winning the national title.
Jignesh Raval, Zeel's coach at the Ahmedabad Racquet Academy (ARA) where she practices is quite hopeful that his ward will be able to achieve her goal.
"That is her dream and her parents' too. And she is really working very hard to make that dream a reality," said Raval and added: "Earlier she used to get two out of 10 drop shots during training. Now she gets eight out of 10. She has added 30km more speed on her forehand strokes. She has gained 18km more speed on her serve and 15km more speed on her backhand. Just a few days ago, she was in tears due to pain and fatigue but yet pushed herself to complete the routine. She is that determined to increase her fitness level and also her overall game."
"After coming from Australia she has been serving better and playing every special shot like volleys, drops, slices etc much better and more frequently. She has also grown in confidence; she has become taller and stronger; in short her overall game has grown manifold," added Raval.
The coach has also planned her schedule for the next two years.
"Now we will concentrate more on the U-18 circuit where she will get to play stronger opponents and her junior world ranking. We have planned to play some tournaments abroad too where she will get to play in a stronger field. Next Monday, Zeel is playing the ITF tournament in Chennai in clay court. Since we don't have too many clay courts in Ahmedabad to practice we made Zeel play in this tournament where she got the much needed pre-tournament practice ahead of the ITF," said Raval and added: "We want to see Zeel playing in the 2016 junior Australian Open. Who knows, if she keeps on improving, she might be eligible to play in the women's section as well."
Zeel also earned a lot of praise from none other than Dr Vece Paes, hockey Olympian and father of the legendary Leander Paes.
"She looks pretty good for her age, she just needs to develop in few areas and she can be a really good player," Dr Paes had said during one of his visit to Ahmedabad for a tennis clinic.