“Nishesh coached me as a 14 year old in some of my matches. It is a role reversal now” – Nishanth Basavareddy, Coach and Brother of Nishesh Basavareddy (USA)

After rising start Nishesh Basavareddy’s (USA) first round match at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, we sat down to chat with Nishanth Basavareddy. Nishanth is Nishesh’s brother and also a part of his coaching staff.

What are your thoughts on the match with Bu ? 

Nishanth:

Overall, I thought the match was pretty good. Nishesh did  five weeks of training, and then he had a little bit of a foot issue. So he ended up skipping Delray Beach. So it’s been good these last two weeks for him to get in some matches against some high quality opponents. He played Shapovalov last week, and then Bu who, similar to Nishesh also jumped through the Challengers pretty quickly last year, and has been doing pretty well on tour also. It’s been good getting these experiences on tour and playing in big stadiums like these. Overall, I thought it was a solid match. He started off a little slow. He had some chances in the end of the first set, but didn’t capitalize. I thought it was a decent match.

What was the game plan coming onto the court, and what were the key moments from your perspective?

Nishanth:

I think the serve and return were very important. Bu can serve  very well, and is very solid on both sides, so being able to return well and also make a high percentage of first serves were the two main things. Especially here, because the courts are pretty slow. So those were the two key things.

I would say he started off pretty slow. He got broken in the first game, but at 4-5 in the first set, he broke back. After that he had a little bit of  a sloppy game and Bu capitalized and won the first set.

He started off slow in both of the sets, which cost him the match.

Nishesh was training in Florida for the offseason. How was the training block and could you share insight on some of the players he got to hit with ? 

Nishanth:

 Nishesh had a fitness trainer down in Florida. It’s Tommy Paul’s trainer, Franco, who has worked with a lot of other male ATP players. He also works with players such as Azarenka and Ethan Quinn. There were a lot of different players there, so he was working with them. He was able to work out with them on the track  and in the gym.

Track and gym was one of the main focuses in the off season. That is because he needs to get in better shape, put on some muscle so he can stay on tour and be able to play in long matches, play week in and week out.

There were a lot of good pros around there. He got to hit there with Opelka, Tommy Paul, Aleksandar Kovacevic a couple of times. So there were a lot of good hitting opportunities there.

Was there anything game-wise that you guys worked on ?

Nishanth:

Yes game wise we were trying to focus on the serve and return, and then coming into the net more. On his transition game as well. But, he didn’t get as much of a chance to work on it since he has been having some foot issues. So yes, those were the main focus areas.

Nishesh went into the Australian open for his first grand slam main draw appearance. He did extremely well against Novak and got a lot of exposure at the big stage. How is he and the team dealing with all the limelight ? 

Nishanth:

I don’t think we’re dealing with anything too differently. Tennis still remains the main focus. He still has a lot of things to work and improve on, which he’s doing. Actually, the only thing is that occasionally he’ll be stopped for pictures. Especially at the tennis tournaments of course, but even at the Indianapolis Airport. So yeah, that’s been fun for him. So for him, I think it’s cool being able to take pictures and being recognized.

Which brings us to this question :  Nishesh had a great match against Denis Shapovalov, coming up through qualifying. What are your thoughts about his levels matching up to the higher-level players right now?

Nishanth:

I feel good about his level in that match. He served for the first set at some point, putting himself in positions to succeed. He’s getting opportunities, it’s just about sometimes converting those opportunities. I feel his level is right there with those guys, just a couple of points here and there, and a couple of minor things to adjust. Overall, the level is there.

Going onto your journey, you played college tennis for Indiana university. How was your transition from playing for Indiana to juggling being part of Nishesh’s coaching team and also being there for him as his brother ?

Nishanth:

In college, I played for Indiana University, but in terms of dual matches, I didn’t play much. I was watching a lot of tennis, which was very helpful, spending more time watching and analyzing. Even though I wasn’t coaching my teammates, I was still watching a lot of tennis and even Challengers, which was really helpful for me. I watched all his college matches. In terms of coaching him, he actually coached me a little when he had his knee surgeries! When I was about 16, he had one of his knee surgeries and traveled with me to my tournaments, with my parents. If I split sets, he would coach me, or before matches, he would watch some of my footage and coach me. It’s a reversal now, which is interesting!

How do you think he is developing physically, with the transition from college tennis to the Challenger events and now the full tour-level tournaments?

Nishanth:

He has definitely put on a lot more muscle. I was watching his match in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, at the start of last summer, when he came out of college, and he’s already looking much bigger physically. He’s able to play longer points and stay in matches longer. He is definitely improving physically. There is still room to improve to reach peak physical condition, but he’s getting there.

You mentioned that he’s been having some foot issues. How is he feeling with his body right now? Any injury concerns at all?

Nishanth:

Not really. We  just need a little bit of rest for his foot, but other than that, everything has been pretty good.

He has played a bunch of European clay court tournaments during juniors, even some in South America. Are you considering training blocks in Europe ?

Nishanth:

He has already had a long training block and a lot of time to work on his game. We’re going to the clay season pretty early. He’s planning on starting in Bucharest, depending on how Miami goes. He’ll play that tournament and stay in Europe throughout the clay court season. I don’t know how much training he’ll be doing, but his goal is to play a lot of tournaments in Europe on clay.

Nishesh is already at 101 in the ATP rankings. He’ll get direct entry into some tour level tournaments and will need to qualify into some others. He can also be one of the top seeds if he plays challengers. Is the goal to still mix up Challengers with tour level events or is it really to keep knocking at the door of tour level events and maybe even try to push that open ?  

Nishanth:

The main goal is to prove his level on the tour level, as he is still young. In terms of Challengers, if he doesn’t do well in the Masters 1000s, he might play some 175s in between. But playing Challengers regularly is not the plan right now. He plans to play mainly the tour events.

Do you think playing more tour level tournaments, even winning a couple of matches, is a better return on investment for the physical input versus Challengers, where you might play five matches for the same number of points?

Nishanth:

Yes, like last week, for example, entering the main draw directly at an ATP 500, if he would’ve won one main draw match he would’ve gotten 50 points. Last year in Mexico, at a Challenger event he won five matches in brutal heat and got 50 points there. There is a better return on investment, but it’s tougher to win matches at the tour level against top 50 players. Last year, at the end of the year, he played four weeks, reaching three finals and a semi-final. It was really tough physically.

So, in some way, would you say it’s harder to rise through Futures and Challengers to the ATP tour because you have to put in so much physical effort just to rise up?

Nishanth:

In a way, yes. But the tour level is just so difficult. In the two tour tournaments he qualified for at the start of the year in Australia, the ATP 250s, he beat two top 100 players both weeks and got only 13 points. So, even qualifying for a 250 is pretty tough.

Last question for you: how does the schedule look for him in the next month and half or so ? 

Nishanth:

Most likely, he’s going to rest a little, train, and play Miami qualifying. Depending on how that goes, the ATP Bucharest tournament which starts two weeks after Miami ends. He’ll start the clay season early after that, hopefully playing Monte Carlo and other ATP 500s and ATP 250s in Europe.

Thank you!