Ankita Raina


Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina is an Indian professional tennis player and the current Indian No. 1 in both women’s singles and doubles.
Raina has won one WTA Challenger in doubles, along with eleven singles and seventeen doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In April 2018, she entered the top 200 singles rankings for the first time, becoming only the fifth player representing India to achieve this feat. Raina has also won gold medals in the women's singles and mixed-doubles events at the 2016 South Asian Games, and won a bronze medal in singles at the 2018 Asian Games.
Playing for India at the Fed Cup, Raina has a win-loss record of 18–14. She has notable wins over Zhu Lin and Yulia Putintseva, both at the 2018 Fed Cup.

Personal life

Raina was born in the western Indian state of Gujarat to a Kashmiri Pandit family. Her family hails from the town of Tral in Pulwama district, Kashmir. Her family left Kashmir in the early 1990s during the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, due to the ongoing insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Raina is fluent in Hindi, Gujarati, and English. Raina briefly studied at Brihan Maharashtra.
At the national events, Raina has represented her home state Gujarat. Her idols growing up were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Sania Mirza.
Raina trains at the Hemant Bendrey Tennis Academy at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana in Pune, and is coached by Hemant Bendrey.

Career

Raina started playing tennis at the age of five. Following a promising junior career, Raina made her first professional appearance in 2009, at a small ITF tournament in Mumbai. In 2010, she continued to participate in local ITF events with limited success. Raina's 2011 season saw her advance to three ITF circuit finals in doubles, winning one with countrywoman Aishwarya Agrawal. In 2012, she won her first professional singles title in New Delhi and won three more in doubles. This was followed by a few years of mediocre results on the ITF Women's Circuit.
Raina won two matches at the 2017 Mumbai Open, advancing to the biggest quarterfinal of her career. This would turn out to be her breakthrough tournament. In April 2018, she reached a ranking of world No. 181 after winning a $25K ITF title, becoming the fifth Indian national to crack to the top-200 ladies singles rankings, following Nirupama Sanjeev, Sania Mirza, Shikha Uberoi, and Sunitha Rao.
In August 2018, Ankita won the bronze medal in the Asian Games at Jakarta, Indonesia in singles event. Raina and Sania Mirza are the only players representing India to have won a singles medal at the Asian Games.
At the 2019 Kunming Open, Raina got her first top-100 win, defeating Samantha Stosur, former US Open champion and top 10 player, scoring the biggest win of her career. In October 2019, Raina entered the top 150 doubles rankings for the first time, after reaching the finals of the 2019 Suzhou Ladies Open with partner Rosalie van der Hoek. She bettered this feat by winning two back-to-back ITF titles in Nonthaburi alongside Bibiane Schoofs; followed by reaching her first WTA semifinal at the 2020 Thailand Open alongside Rosalie. This gave Raina a new career-high raking of No. 123 in doubles.

Playing style

Raina is a steady baseliner who primarily relies on her speed and counterpunching abilities to outlast her opponents.
She hits with plenty of topspin on both her forehand and backhand, and can hit in all directions comfortably. She also uses the backhand slice quite often, as a way of varying the pattern of a rally.
Raina is comfortable with volleying, and approaches the net whenever she gets her opponent running or out of position. She doesn't use the drop shot or lob too frequently, but brings them out as a surprise tactic.
Raina's biggest strength is her baseline consistency. She can stay toe-to-toe with most players from the back of the court, and can get a majority of shots back in play.
Raina has a solid first serve, but it is her second serve that gives her an advantage at the start of a point. She can hit a good kick serve, which opens up the court for an easy putaway.
Raina also has a good return of serve, and is capable of neutralizing most big serves by sending them back with precision. She is also quite efficient at the net, and can take the attack to the opponent on fast courts with her purposeful volleys.
Raina's biggest weakness is the lack of firepower on her groundstrokes. She can't match the raw muscle strength of the top players, and so is frequently in danger of getting blown off the court. Recently, she has been moving a lot better on the court as well.

Sponsorship and equipment

In her junior years, Raina was helped by Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals to participate in overseas junior tournaments. Since then, she has been supported by Bharat Forge and Lakshya. Most recently, Raina has signed sponsorship deals with the Sports Authority of Gujarat and Yonex, and she is officially employed with ONGC. Hence, Raina uses Yonex racquets and clothing. Adani Group is her current supporter.
In 2013, Raina met Narendra Modi, India's then-future prime minister, and officially was recognised under the Shaktidhoot scheme and hence became a part of India's goal of reaching Olympic podiums.

WTA 125K series finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

ITF circuit finals

Singles: 21 (11 titles, 10 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1ITF Fujairah, United Arab Emirates10,000Hard Fatma Al-Nabhani3–6, 2–6
Win1–1ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Prerna Bhambri6–4, 6–2
Loss1–2ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Miyabi Inoue2–6, 2–6
Loss1–3ITF Hyderabad, India10,000Hard Bárbara Luz6–4, 6–7, 6–7
Loss1–4ITF Hyderabad, India10,000Hard Bárbara Luz6–2, 3–6, 1–6
Win2–4ITF Chennai, India10,000Clay Natasha Palha6–3, 6–1
Loss2–5ITF Lucknow, India10,000Grass Emi Mutaguchi6–3, 6–7, 1–6
Loss2–6ITF Qarshi, Uzbekistan25,000Hard Sabina Sharipova3–6, 3–6
Win3–6ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Eetee Maheta6–3, 6–2
Win4–6ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Kanika Vaidya6–4, 6–4
Loss4–7ITF Balikpapan, Indonesia25,000Clay Zhu Lin5–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win5–7ITF Pune, India25,000Hard Katy Dunne6–2, 6–2
Loss5–8ITF Ahmedabad, India25,000Hard Anastasija Sevastova4–6, 6–7
Loss5–9May 2017ITF Lu'an, China60,000Hard Zhu Lin3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win6–9ITF Gwalior, India25,000Hard Amandine Hesse6–2, 7–5
Win7–9ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand25,000Hard Risa Ozaki6–2, 6–3
Win8–9ITF Singapore25,000Hard Arantxa Rus6–3, 6–2
Loss8–102019 Lale Cup – Singles|ITF Istanbul, Turkey60,000Hard Vitalia Diatchenko4–6, 0–6
Win9–10Dec 2019ITF Solapur, India25,000Hard Naiktha Bains6–3, 6–3
Win10–10Jan 2020ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand25,000Hard Chloé Paquet6–3, 7–5
Win11–10Feb 2020ITF Jodhpur, India25,000Hard Berfu Cengiz7–5, 6–1

Doubles: 27 (17 titles, 13 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1ITF Kolkata, India10,000Clay Poojashree Venkatesha Nicole Clerico
Dalila Jakupovič
3–6, 1–6
Loss0–2ITF Lucknow, India10,000Grass Aishwarya Agrawal Anja Prislan
Kyra Shroff
3–6, 3–6
Win1–2ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Aishwarya Agrawal Fatma Al-Nabhani
Rushmi Chakravarthi
6–4, 6–3
Win2–2ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Rushmi Chakravarthi Liu Yuxuan
Zhao Qianqian
6–1, 6–4
Win3–2ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Rushmi Chakravarthi Sri Peddy Reddy
Prarthana Thombare
6–3, 6–2
Win4–2ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Aishwarya Agrawal Ester Masuri
Naomi Totka
6–1, 6–4
Loss4–3ITF Chennai, India10,000Clay Rushmi Chakravarthi Natasha Palha
Prarthana Thombare
7–5, 3–6,
Loss4–4ITF New Delhi, India10,000Hard Shweta Rana Sharmada Balu
Sowjanya Bavisetti
2–6, 4–6
Win5–4ITF Aurangabad, India10,000Clay Prarthana Thombare Shweta Rana
Rishika Sunkara
6–3, 6–3
Loss5–5ITF Tianjin, China25,000Hard Fatma Al-Nabhani Liu Chang
Ran Tian
1–6, 5–7
Win6–5ITF Mumbai, India25,000Hard Lu Jiajing Nicha Lertpitaksinchai
Peangtarn Plipuech
6–4, 1–6,
Win7–5ITF Lucknow, India15,000Grass Emily Webley-Smith Rushmi Chakravarthi
Nidhi Chilumula
6–2, 6–4
Loss7–6ITF Westende, Belgium25,000Hard Alyona Sotnikova Indy de Vroome
Lesley Kerkhove
6–7, 4–6
Loss7–7ITF Fergana, Uzbekistan25,000Hard Prerna Bhambri Polina Monova
Yana Sizikova
6–7, 2–6
Win8–7Sep 2016ITF Zhuhai, China50,000Hard Emily Webley-Smith Guo Hanyu
Jiang Xinyu
6–4, 6–4
Win9–7ITF Pula, Italy25,000Clay Eva Wacanno Irene Burillo Escorihuela
Yvonne Cavallé Reimers
6–4, 6–4
Win10–7ITF Hua Hin, Thailand25,000Hard Emily Webley-Smith Nudnida Luangnam
Zhang Yukun
6–2, 6–0
Win11–7ITF Koksijde, Belgium25,000Clay Bibiane Schoofs Marie Benoît
Magali Kempen
3–6, 6–3,
Loss11–8ITF Leipzig, Germany25,000Clay Tereza Mrdeža Valentyna Ivakhnenko
Lidziya Marozava
2–6, 1–6
Win12–8Aug 2017ITF Artvin, Turkey60,000Hard Gabriela Cé Elitsa Kostova
Yana Sizikova
6–2, 6–3
Win13–8May 2018ITF Lu'an, China60,000Hard Harriet Dart Liu Fangzhou
Xun Fangying
6–3, 6–3
Win14–8ITF Pune, India25,000Hard Karman Thandi Aleksandrina Naydenova
Tamara Zidanšek
6–2, 6–7,
Loss14–9Jul 2019ITF Versmold, Germany60,000Clay Bibiane Schoofs Amina Anshba
Anastasia Dețiuc
6–0, 3–6,
Loss14–10ITF Woking, United Kingdom25,000Hard Naiktha Bains Sarah Beth Grey
Eden Silva
2–6, 5–7
Loss14–11Oct 2019ITF Suzhou, China100,000Hard Rosalie van der Hoek Jiang Xinyu
Tang Qianhui
6–3, 3–6,
Loss14–12Nov 2019ITF Liuzhou, China60,000Hard Rosalie van der Hoek Jiang Xinyu
Tang Qianhui
4–6, 4–6
Win15–12ITF Solapur, India25,000Hard Ulrikke Eikeri Berfu Cengiz
Despina Papamichail
5–7, 6–4,
Win16–12ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand25,000Hard Bibiane Schoofs Supapitch Kuearum
Mananchaya Sawangkaew
6–4, 6–2
Win17–12ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand25,000Hard Bibiane Schoofs Miyabi Inoue
Kang Jiaqi
6–2, 3–6,
Loss17–13ITF Jodhpur, India25,000Hard Snehal Mane Rutuja Bhosale
Miyabi Inoue
6–4, 4–6,

Fed Cup participation

Singles

Doubles

Asian Games

Singles (bronze medal)