Over the years, Stanford has produced some quality tennis players, such as 7-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe and men’s doubles legend Mike Bryan, among others. Nishesh Basavareddy is aiming to join this list. The 19-year-old of Indian origin is one of the brightest prospects from the NCAA and is already playing in ATP Challenger tournaments.
Basavareddy has used all the coaching and resources from Stanford in his favor to make it as a wildcard at the Australian Open 2025. After his Challenger title win in Champaign, the 19-year-old is now in striking distance to also make his debut in the NextGen ATP Finals in Jeddah in a few weeks’ time.
Interestingly, to make it to the finals, Basavareddy will have to compete for either the 7th or 8th spot with 18-year-olds Joao Fonseca and Martin Landaluce. Fonseca is from Brazil and is widely considered as the man to succeed the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
In fact, Fonseca has been so consistent that it made the great Roger Federer sign him on for his athleisure brand, On Running. This has given the Brazilian youngster an opportunity to tap into Federer’s brain in terms of playing tennis. It is also likely that Federer had a role to play in Rolex signing up Fonseca at such a young age.
Fonseca is currently ranked 7th in the Race to Jeddah with 409 points. He seems to be the favorite amongst the trio to make it there for the tournament from December 18-22.
Another player who would be tough for Basavareddy to overcome in the race is Landaluce. The Spaniard qualified for the top clay tournaments, i.e., the Barcelona Open and Madrid Open, this year. Being at the 9th spot with 372 points, he is just 26 away from Basavareddy, who is sitting at No.8 at the moment.
If Fonseca is backed by Federer, Landaluce has been trained by Rafael Nadal and his coaches in the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s academy in Manacor. Earlier this year, the youngster was one of the lucky few to get to practice with Nadal ahead of the Miami Open and claimed that Nadal wanted to ‘destroy him’, being full of praise for his guru.
“Oh! This point was good. He [Nadal] was destroying the ball here, he was destroying it. Nah he’s too good. He’s too good. He was beating me like he was winning every point. He was hitting everything. No no no, he wanted to destroy me,” said Landaluce.
Apart from Fonseca and Landaluce, Basavareddy is also competing with Hamad Medjedovic, Novak Djokovic’s protege. Basavareddy is already sort of popular in his hometown in Carmel, Illinois, where another Indian-origin player and doubles champion, Rajeev Ram, also hails.
How Rajeev Ram helped Basavareddy grow into a talented prodigy
In 2022, Basavareddy earned his biggest paycheck as a 16-year-old, taking home $5,000 for winning the Rajeev Ram Foundation Indy Challenger tournament. Back then, the young star reacted to that win in a press conference by praising Ram’s impact on his career.
“Any time you can get that kind of support, financially, knowing that people are backing you is huge.
“[Rajeev] has been super important for my growth because he played junior tennis, college tennis and made that leap to pro tennis after leaving the University of Illinois.
“I think having all of his advice, what to expect on the pro tour, and the tennis advice has been huge for me.”
Ram has called Basavareddy a ‘calculated, diligent’ individual who is very coachable and can go a long way in the sport.
“He is a very calculated, diligent individual. I think one of the best things about him is that he doesn’t take decisions lightly. He gathers as much information as he can and tries to make as educated of a decision as he can possibly make.
“And honestly he plays tennis a bit like that too. He’s just got such a great mind for the game that he’s able to dissect opponents and matches better than most.
“I think along with being a very polite and nice individual, I think just his ability to process information is for me what sticks out and he’s had that since I can remember.”
Coming back to the present, Basavareddy said in an interview with the ATP Tour that he is hoping to make it to the NextGen ATP Finals 2024. He admitted that he is inspired by Carlos Alcaraz’s journey.
“That’s a huge goal of mine… It seems like a really cool showcase for the younger guys who maybe don’t get as much exposure if they aren’t playing on the main tour yet.
“I think it’s a really cool initiative and obviously [Carlos] Alcaraz has won the event. A lot of Top 10 guys have played it. I think it would definitely be cool to be a part of that.”
Basavareddy would fancy his chances, and these are great times ahead for American tennis if youngsters like him come from the system successfully.
