New Delhi: In the last 24 hours, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan endured a heartbreaking development, fought stress while waiting for a ‘yes’ and eventually came out smiling to live his Wimbledon dream.
For the first time in his career, Jeevan earned a chance to make his doubles Grand Slam debut but an ankle injury to his partner Hyeon Chung almost killed his dream. However, as destiny would have it, American Jared Donaldson came as his saviour and agreed to play with the Indian left-hander at Wimbledon.
And what a stroke of luck! With their combined ranking of 160 (Jeevan 95 and Jared 65), they grabbed the last available spot in the main doubles draw. The cut-off mark for direct entry is exactly 160 this year. “To re-pair at exactly 160 was pretty amazing,” Jeevan told this agency from Eastbourne.
Since giving up singles to focus on doubles and beginning the season with his maiden ATP World Tour title with Rohan Bopanna at the Chennai Open, playing at a Major was the next big target for the Chennai lad, married to golfer Neha Tripathi. It almost crashed, but then luck aided him to finally achieve a lifetime ambition.
Memorable win
Eastbourne (England): In one of the most memorable wins of his career, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Matt Reid of Australia knocked out reigning French Open champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus in the opening round of the ATP250 Aegon International tennis tournament here Monday. Unseeded Jeevan and Reid shocked the third seeded American-Kiwi pair 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 in exactly an hour in the $6,93,910 grass court event.