Table of Contents
Naib Subedar Sriram Balaji has made history as he becomes the first player in the history of Indian Army, who has qualified for the Wimbledon main draw. The pair of Vishnu Vardhan and N Sriram Balaji qualified for the main draw after a 6-3 6-4 win over top seeds Denys Molchanov and Igor Zelenay in the second round of the Wimbledon qualifiers. This is the first ever in Indian Army history when an Indian Army soldier has reached such heights in Wimbledon.
About N Sriram Balaji:
N Sriram Balaji is a Junior Commissioned Officer in Indian Army. After getting recruited in Indian Army, he joined Madras Sappers in February 2017. Since he joined Indian Army, he played numerous tournaments and has won 5 ATP Challengers Cup. Currently, he is posted in Bengaluru.
N Sriram Balaji has become the first ever player form services who have qualified for Wimbledon Main Draw. On this biggest achievement by the Indian Army soldier, Indian Army has congratulated him through a tweet that says “Naib Subedar Sriram Balaji has qualified for the Wimbledon Main Draw. First in the history of Services, player to qualify and reach this level,”
Naib Subedar Sriram Balaji has qualified for the Wimbledon Main Draw. First in the history of Services, player to qualify & reach this level. #IndianArmy #Proud #SagaOfTheChampion pic.twitter.com/Jq5zrlXBEA
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) June 28, 2018
Balaji has been playing tennis since 2000 when he was just 10 years old. In 2002, Sriram Balaji was ranked 1st in India under 12 different categories. He is currently holding a global ranking of 117.
What Balaji Says about his Victory?
“Even if you have the game, you have to execute it to go to the next level. I always travel with Vishnu, Prajnesh (Gunneswaran) and Vijay (Prashanth). These guys also mentally helped me to get better. And I feel so much better on the court now,” said Balaji.
“It’s not even a full year now, we started to focus more on doubles. We are close friends on and off the courts as well. We think mostly alike which shows on the court as well. In the last couple of months, we have had lots of ups and downs but we still kept on going.”
“It’s definitely another step forward in our career. We believe we can go deeper in the tournament. We are playing good and we are confident. But we would like to take it a step a time,” he said.
Also Read:
