Nirupama Sanjeev

Indian tennis player Nirupama Sanjeev (née Vaidyanathan; born 8 December 1976) is an Indian former professional tennis player. In the 1998 Australian Open, Sanjeev became the second Indian woman (after Nirupama Mankad) in the Open era to feature in a major main draw, the first one in singles, and the first to win a major match, defeating Gloria Pizzichini. She also won the bronze medal at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games in mixed doubles, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi. Sanjeev was the first Indian woman to enter the top 200 of the rankings in singles. She founded Nirus Tennis Academy in 2004 and now does consultations about tennis on https://tennisconsultation.com. She also wrote her memoir "The Moonballer" which was released by tennis legend Vijay Amritraj in 2013 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+moonballer&crid=23XAD8E1KYPAY&sprefix=the+moonballer%2Caps%2C182&ref=nb_sb_noss Early life and tennis career Nirupama was born in the Southern Indian town of Coimbatore. She started playing tennis at the age of 5 and was influenced very much by her brother. Her father K.S. Vaidyanathan was a cricketer who had played for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Cricket tournament; he coached her at the start of her ca