Prajnesh Gunneswaran: I don’t think I played bad, the first set was close
Indian No.1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran bowed out of the US Open following a straight sets loss to World No.5 Daniil Medvedev. Though the match started on a positive not for the Indian, a twisted ankle in the first set did the trick, not letting Gunneswaran move as freely as he would have wanted.
“I twisted my ankle at 2-2 in the first set and unfortunately, that was that,” Gunneswaran said.
Speaking about the injury, Gunneswaran added, “No, it is not that bad but it was bad enough that I could not move. I was struggling to move on the returns for example. If I knew where the ball was coming, it was okay. However, if I had to split and change the direction, then it was tough. I didn’t know in which direction the ball was going to come and at this level, it is too much of a handicap.”
He further added, “I don’t think I played bad otherwise. The first set was relatively close. I had some chances. If I hadn’t lost my service twice, then it would have been closer. After that, I had to go for the broke as I could not really defend with my movement. It didn’t really work. Daniil also started serving well in the second and the third sets. He played smart. He was playing drop shots, playing behind me when he knew it was tough for me to change direction.”
Speaking about his schedule for the remainder of the season, he said, “I will going to China now where I will play 3 challengers in a row. I have lots of points to defend for the rest of the year. I had played a good mix of tour events in the last 4 months and I haven’t done as well as I would have liked. I had some issues in the summer and on Grass I struggled a little bit but I think it was the right move to play the tougher opponents at this level.”
“I didn’t make the breakthrough but my plan is to play the challengers and hopefully do really well and come back and keep knocking on the door. If I stay committed to it, I am confident of making the jump.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Hvp2na
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