Arnav Paparkar enjoyed a great run at the French Open boys’ singles event before his journey came to an end following a defeat to the fourth seed, Jack Kennedy of the United States, in the round of 16. Throughout the tournament, Arnav showed that he has a really strong game and is someone who has the potential to represent India in the senior event.
India have produced top-level doubles players frequently, but the representation in singles has been equally rare.
The 18-year-old started the tournament with a win over Vincent Reisach in the first round. It’s wasn’t an easy game and Vincent put Arnav under constant pressure, but he showed a great game from the baseline and terrific mental strength to come out on top 7-6, 6-4. He continued the great run against Taiwan’s Kuan Shou Chen. His performance saw a significant improvement in the second round as he decimated Kuan 6-2, 6-4.
The game against Jack Kennedy was always going to be tough given his pedigree on clay. Paparkar showed great fight in the first set, but lost 7-5 before Kennedy pulled off a stunning show in the second set and didn’t give Arnav much chance, winning 6-2, ending a decent run for the Indian star.
Who Is Arnav Paparkar?
Arnav Paparkar is one of the top-ranked junior tennis players in India, reaching career best 22 earlier this year. Arnav has been performing consistently at juniors event. Overall, he has terrific win percentage of 71, winning 105 and losing just 43 matches. His best results have come on hard courts where he won 89 of his 105 games. On clay, he maintained a win percentage of 68, with 15 wins and seven defeats. At the junior level, he also won six titles, with his biggest win coming at J200 event in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. Arnav is already 18 so he won’t be eligible to play junior tennis after the conclusion of a calendar year.