Jennifer Luikham getting ready for the big league

NEW DELHI

Jennifer Luikham is brilliant to watch on a tennis court as plays the power-game in classical style. 

The 23-year-old from the Tanghkhul Naga tribe in Manipur, picked early by Mahesh Bhupathi in 2008, and guided by coach Aditya Sachdeva over the years, is ready to make her presence felt, as she hinted by winning the $25,000 UTR Pro women’s tournament on Sunday.

“Some players take the escalator and some the stairs. Jennifer is now on the right track hopefully”, said Sachdeva, who trains her at the RoundGlass Academy in Chandigarh.

After being prompted by Mahesh, Sachdeva has been coaching Jennifer from 2012.

“Not often do you get an athlete who ticks a lot of boxes for a coach. She is gifted and has started to close in on others. Mentally she is maturing both on and off the court but needs to work a lot still”, he said.

With the support of her parents, Jennifer has been training and competing in Europe, and more recently in Tunisia for 17 weeks. She made a final, and a few semifinals and quarterfinals of $15,000 events.

It was no wonder that Jennifer was thrilled to win a title in singles in Delhi. “I had never won anything in Delhi. Good to be winning this at home”, said Jennifer who pocketed $3,600 for her show in the UTR Pro.