Mysore Tennis Club has produced many players of repute. Nagaraj Revannasiddiah is one of them The 51-year-old national level tennis has gone on to reach great heights, as player and coach.
His consistent performance in the national and international circuit shows that age is no barrier for achievement. Nagaraj has been selected by All India Tennis Association (AITA) to represent India in the Senior World Tennis championships to be held in Florida, USA from April 21 to May 4 2014. He will represent the country in the men’s 50 plus team and individual events. He is the only player from Karnataka to be part of the team.
Nagaraj has consistently identified fresh talent in mofussil centres. Nagaraj has helped talented youngsters including Poojashree Venkatesh, C Vasisht, M V Abhay Prakash, Swetha and Likitha Devaraj who have gone on to represent the country.
From a middle class family, Nagaraj, son of K M Revanasiddiah and Gowramanni took up tennis at the age of 21. He went on to be amongst the top 10 in the country between 1989 and 1991. He was the Karnataka State men’s champion from 1989 to 1993.
Sports runs in his family with his elder brothers, Mahadev Prabhu and R. Shivakumar being state level badminton players.
Married to Vimala in 1994, Nagaraj has two children, Samarth and Samuktha who also play tennis. Encouraged by his wife and family, Nagaraj continues to peruse his passion to play.
Nagaraj, an employee of Income-Tax Department, Mysore since 1991, is ranked No 4 in the country in the men’s 45 plus category presently. He took part in the AISTA-AITA Senior Nationals tennis tournament conducted by Solaris at Pune from March 7 to 15 and won the 45 plus singles title.
He also won the 45 plus men’s singles title in the T.S. Santhanam Memorial National AITA veterans tennis tournament held at Chennai in February. In the final, Nagaraj beat C. Rameez Samad (TN) 6-4, 6-4 and clinched the National title in the 45 plus category.
He won two bronze medals in the National Games in 1994 at Pune for Karnataka in the men’s team championship and in the Individual Open doubles teaming up with Madan Ballal. He has won many National level titles in different tournaments and has been a consistent performer in the National and International circuit.
