Aditya Madkekar is one of those totally unsung players on the ITF circuit hoping to make it big one day.

The 22-year-old Mangalorean, who looks the typical boy next door, recently realised his dream of wearing national colours when he was called up to the national side for the Asian championship in Tashkent.

“It really was a dream come true for me. Though my performance in the singles was not that good, I made it to the quarters in the doubles," says the former junior national champion.

Aditya, who idolises Andre Agassi, has been making rapid strides in the AITA rankings, reaching a career-high fourth recently. "My aim is to improve upon my present ranking, both on the AITA and ATP lists.

“With an ATP ranking of 644, I know where I stand in the international arena. But I would like to improve on it," admits Aditya.

Back to his roots
Despite being from Mangalore, he has lived most of his life in Mumbai. But he is getting close to his dream of playing for his home state, with the AITA accepting his request for a transfer from Maharashtra to his home state of Karnataka.

“The AITA’s decision was really a shot in the arm for me. I would like to make Bangalore my base hereafter.
“The weather is pleasant and the training facilities are excellent. It would be great if I can represent Karnataka in the next National Games. Along with Rohan Bopanna, the AITA number one, now we have two players from Karnataka in the top five,” gushes Aditya, who is employed with Indian Railways.

Even though Aditya considers the doubles victory with Rohan Gajjar in the Iran Futures as one of the high points of his fledgling career, he rues missing the singles title in the Ludhiana Futures in August. "I lost to Pakistan's Akheel Khan in the final after having the upper hand for most of the match.

“That defeat still haunts me. So too the defeat in the quarterfinals of the National Championship in Delhi last month," says Aditya, with a tinge of regret.

A regular on the ITF Futures circuit, missing from his cupboard is a major singles trophy.

But his mentor and chief coach of the High Performance Training Centre, Anjan Viplav, has a different story to tell.
 "Tennis is not all about winning. You don't find such hard-working and down to earth players like Aditya in the modern game. Never do you see him arguing with umpires, nor do you see him throwing racquets.
“He has been playing too much tennis of late, without much rest -- from Iran to Moscow to Uzbekistan and now back in India. No wonder he couldn’t do well at the Bellary Open.”

Aditya went down in the first round of singles play and didn’t progress beyond the second round in doubles action last week.

Useful platform
A consistent performer at the U-14, U-18 and U-20 level, Aditya feels playing Futures has helped him develop his game as he gets a chance to rub shoulders with some top players ranked almost 200 places above him.
"Playing in different countries and different surfaces is a good experience. Futures tournament is a good learning curve for all the youngsters hoping to break into the top league".

As he gets ready for a grueling season ahead, beginning with the Challenger tournament in Delhi next month, Aditya has his priorities clear.

“There are certain grey areas in my game. Though I do serve pretty decently, my ground strokes are not up to the mark and I would like to improve upon that. So too my overall court coverage,” concludes Aditya.