‘That can’t be taken away’: Raina on her debut Grand Slam experience after loss

Walking onto Court 12 of Melbourne Park on Thursday afternoon for her first Grand Slam main draw match, Ankita Raina felt “in the zone”. A backhand winner at the net by the Indian ended the first point the match.

“C’mon,” Raina exclaimed. And with that off she went on her long-awaited Grand Slam journey.

The end of the match was totally different from the start, with Raina and her Romanian partner Mihaela Buzarnescu losing to Australian combo Belinda Woolcok and Olivia Gadecki 6-3, 6-0 in the opening round of the Australian Open women’s doubles. Hoping for a lucky loser spot in singles, Raina instead teamed up with Buzarnescu for the doubles draw at the last minute. The Indian-Romanian’s inexperience as a doubles team—this was their first match together—in windy conditions was visible against the solid local pair in a match where Raina failed to hold serve.

But the 28-year-old Raina’s objective from the rather unexpected doubles outing was to cherish her first taste of a Grand Slam main draw match after nine attempts at qualifying in singles. “That can’t be taken away from me,” Raina said after her match on Thursday. “I felt bad that I lost. But it was great to play the main draw of a Slam. I’m really looking forward to playing a singles main draw soon now.”

That India’s highest-ranked women's player was with the elite in Melbourne and not competing in a lower-level tournament elsewhere was due to her fighting third-round qualifying loss in Dubai last month, where she took a set off rising Serbian youngster Olga Danilovic. Raina was taken to Melbourne as one of the contenders for the lucky loser spot in the singles draw. Instead of playing matches to start the new season and building on her good end to 2020 with an ITF doubles title triumph, Raina was quarantining for two weeks. However, Raina—ranked 181 in singles and 115 in doubles—wouldn’t have had it any differently, for she got an opportunity to play a few additional matches at the WTA 500 level (the second highest on the women’s tour) in the warm-up tournament last week.

“When the lucky loser chance opened up, I was really happy because I knew I would get to come to this trip and have an opportunity to compete and play the events here. I couldn’t have planned it any better. Of course, you would want to have better results. But being here, practicing here, it was the best that I could have asked for. I have enjoyed my time in Melbourne,” she said.

Over the last month, Raina has played all of four matches. Apart from the Australian Open, she lost in the singles opening round of the Yarra Valley Classic tune-up event where she had a straight-sets defeat against world No. 103 Aliona Bolsova of Spain. In the doubles, she went a step ahead partnering Dutchwoman Rosalie Van Der Hoek. Raina felt the more matches she plays at the top level, the more settled she will feel.

“Game wise, I feel like I’m there, I’m confident. Once you get through a few matches, it gets better and easier. You need to play a few matches, pull off a few ones and then you feel more settled at this level. Any player would want to compete at this level, so I’m happy that I got this opportunity. This will only help me grow as a player,” she said.

The Australian Open experience has given Raina—who became the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza to play in the main draw of a Slam—more belief that she isn’t too far away from reversing the qualifying trend in singles. “This gives me a lot more confidence. Playing the main draw of a Grand Slam is a huge thing. After Sania I don’t know how many years it has been. Now I want to play the main draw of the rest of the Slams this year in singles,” she said.

Tennis players who have been at the stage often talk about how Grand Slam debuts can never be forgotten. Raina acknowledged that, but with a rider: “I will try to replace it with my singles debut.”

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