Kammas World

Anudeep Kodali of Durham, N.C., was spraying the ball all over the court with seemingly the greatest of ease. He is the future star of USA Tennis. “In the second set, I was going for everything and it was working,” Kodali said. Despite soggy conditions at the Westgate Tennis Center on 27th, Monday afternoon, Kodali was on his ‘A’ game in defeating Alex Phillips of Peachtree City, Ga., 6-2, 6-1 in the USTA Boys National Open 14s championship match. “I knew what he was going to do from the start of the match,” Kodali said. “He was going to go for my forehand, so I was more aggressive with my backhand. “I was just hitting the ball so well on the strings – hitting corners and drop shots.” Phillips had no answers to offset Kodali’s fine play. “Unfortunately in the finals, he kind of overpowered me,” Phillips said. “He hit it really hard and deep and took advantage of his slow ball.” It marked the first time Kodali has been a No. 1 seed in a national open tournament. H...

Saketh Myneni. The strapping six-foot-four-inch player from Andhra Pradesh spent hardly any time in the men's final — just 57 minutes — before becoming the new champion, sweeping aside the challenge of the previous year's winner and state-mate A. S. Suresh Krishna in straight sets.Saketh's win re-established the growing influence of the American inter-collegiate tennis circuit on Indian tennis. Saketh, a national junior champion in 2005, had quietly honed his skills playing the highly competitive U. S. inter-collegiate circuit for six years while completing a double Major in finance and economics in Alabama. Now a senior National champion at the age of 24, Saketh says his best efforts were breaking into the top-10 in singles and top-15 in doubles in the U. S. intercollegiate rankings. Doing well in that circuit, which has players coming from all over the world, is more about “attitude” feels Saketh. “You have to focus both in studies and in tennis to do well. There a...