Devvarman makes swift transition to pros

By Whitey Reid

Published: July 22, 2008

Since turning professional after he graduated in May, former Virginia star Somdev Devvarman has played 18 matches. The native of Chennai, India has won them all and has dropped just two sets in the process.
Talk about picking up where you left off.
When Virginia fans last saw Devvarman, he was dominating the college tennis scene. The Cavaliers’ co-captain posted a 37-1 record en route to his second straight NCAA individual championship.
Now Devvarman is steamrolling pro competition in much the same manner.
“I’m definitely very excited right now,” said Devvarman, who has won events in Pittsburgh and Rochester, N.Y. “I feel like I’m playing some good tennis. Things are really good.”
Today, Devvarman takes on former Vanderbilt star Bobby Reynolds in the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, a hard court event in Lexington, Ky. The 90th-ranked Reynolds made it to the third round of this year’s Wimbledon.
Devvarman is currently ranked No. 566 in the world — but he’s climbing fast. The 23-year-old has already knocked off two Top 100 players in Sam Querrey (No. 38) and Dudi Sela (No. 98).
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by my success,” Devvarman said, “but you don’t walk on the tour here and expect to right away beat guys in the top 50 and top 100. That’s definitely been very cool.”
Devvarman, who now resides in Keswick — he’s made it his home training base — says that beating Querrey was definitely his biggest highlight to date. Querrey made it to the third round of this year’s Australian Open before losing to Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 player in the world.
“It was a good confidence booster,” said Devvarman, who pocketed $40,000 with the victory. “He had a big serve, which I wasn’t used to, but I got used to it I guess.”
One of Devvarman’s early wins as a pro was a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of former Georgia standout Travis Helgeson, who handed Devvarman the only loss of his 2007-08 college season.
“He’s a great player,” Devvarman said. “I think I got a little fortunate in that I got to play all of these guys on a surface [clay] that I preferred more than they did. I was pretty comfortable and I think that’s made a big difference.”
The modest Devvarman says his biggest adjustment as a pro has been the busier schedule — playing matches day in and day out while traversing the country. Devvarman’s main goal right now is to play in the U.S. Open next month.
“I’m definitely hoping to get into that, but it might be tough to build up that many points so I’m hoping for a wild card,” he said. “I just need to get my ranking up as high as possible.”
One would think that a two-time NCAA champion who hasn’t lost a match as a pro would have a pretty good chance of obtaining a wild card?
“I think I have a strong case,” said Devvarman, with a laugh, “but at the same time it’s not for me to decide. I obviously want it, but if not I’m going to work hard either way.
“I would definitely want to, because I think I’m playing some good tennis right now and can compete with the big boys.”