India’s rising men’s singles tennis star Prajnesh Gunneswaran is all set to make his French Open debut this Sunday where he will cross swords with Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien. The 86th-ranked Indian has the upper hand in the ATP rankings.
However, Prajnesh cannot take the Bolivian, who is ranked only 6 places below him, lightly as he has won 4 Challenger tournaments and 12 Future tournaments in clay circuit. In case he fends off his first round challenge, Greece’s World No.6 Stefanos Tsitsipas should be waiting for him in the second round.
Prajnesh made his Grand Slam debut earlier this year when he came through the Qualifiers to be knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open. Last year, he had to skip the “lucky loser” spot at the French Open after he already boarded a flight to reach Italy.
The first round entrants in Grand Slams get a whopping amount of $50,000, something which he missed last year on one occasion and still laments to this day. While addressing the media, Prajnesh added that he is aiming for a top 50 spot in the ATP rankings by the end of the year.
He believes that he could achieve the target by playing more matches which gives out more ranking points.
