Holding his own against Rafael Nadal is not guarantee enough that Karan Rastogi will get to test himself at that level regularly. Apart from improving his ranking, the 20-year-old is looking forward to play bigger tournaments, travel a lot morel; which equals to a hike in expenses. And all that without a sponsor.
The Indian tennis hope had written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for financial assistance since the cricket body had announced that it would set aside a sum of Rs 50 crore for players of other sports.
"We haven't received a reply for the BCCI," said Karan's mother, Shilpi, on Wednesday.
"We are knocking on all doors hoping that at least one of them will open. Nike sponsors his apparel and he's got a racquet contract with Head but we pay for his travel and his coach's travel, the coach's fees, which is a lot. Both the associations (All India Tennis Association and Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association) are doing as much as they can but it's not enough."
For the moment it is important for Karan to receive support from sponsors that will take care of his expenses that amount to at least a crore per annum to survive at the highest level.
The Mumbai lad made a splash last week when he beat world number 106 Thiago Alves of Brazil in the Chennai Open first round to set up a second-round clash against top seed Nadal. Though just standing across the net against the Spaniard was a big boost, Karan gave a good account of himself in front a capacity stadium crowd.
"When I walked onto the court and heard all that noise, I just lost it. This is where I wanted to be," says an excited Karan. "I played well to take the first set to 4-4 but then I started thinking a bit, maybe I could just win a couple of games; that's where I got nervous."
Nadal was all praise for his opponent after the match, saying that the Indian needed some more experience at the highest level to make a breakthrough.
Coming off a Futures win in New Delhi in the last week of December, Karan continued the impressive show in Chennai to jump 109 places on the ATP list. He had also came breathtakingly close to upsetting No. 4 seed Wang Chun Yen of Chinese Taipei in the third round of the men's singles Asian Games in Doha, where he was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set before going down 6-2, 5-7, 5-7.
After a high, Karan returns to the obscurities of the Futures circuit, playing in Kolkata (Jan 22) and New Delhi (Jan 29).
With Mahesh Bhupathi announcing that he will not take part in the Davis Cup anymore, the Indian team is likely to test youngsters during the Asia Oceania tie against Uzbekistan. Karan has been a part of the Davis Cup team since 2004 but is yet to make his debut.
"Mahesh has told the AITA that if the team can do without his services then he would prefer it that way, though he has said he would be always available when the need arises against tougher opponents," AITA's joint-secretary Bharat Oza said.
"We in the AITA had already decided to field youngsters like Rohan Bopanna, Karan Rastogi and others for singles in the tie to be played in Uzbekistan," he added.
India will play in Uzbekistan on indoor clay during the February 9-11 tie.
