Nirupama Sanjeev is a retired Indian professional tennis player. She is one of the most formidable players in Indian tennis scenario. Nirupama Sanjeev is retired from the normal tennis life after she became the first Indian woman in the modern era tennis.
Early Life of Nirupama Sanjeev
Nirupama Sanjeev 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 coached her at the start Indian Tennis Players of her career. The first tennis tournament foray was the National under 12 tournament; where she reached the semi-final and went on to win her 1st National title in Under 14 age group at the age of 13. One year later in 1991, she won the National Women`s title at the age of 14. She won the National Women`s title in 1992-1996.
Career of Nirupama Sanjeev
In the year 1996, Nirupama Sanjeev moved to Luxembourg. She turned professional at the age of 18. Nirupama shifted her base to Sarasota, Florida in 1997 where she trained with David O Meara who was the former coach of Leander Paes for two years. In 1998 Australian Open, she became the first Indian woman in the modern era to feature and won a round at a main draw Grand Slam, beating Italy`s Gloria Pizzichini. She has also won the Bronze Medal at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games in Mixed Doubles, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.
Later Career of Nirupama Sanjeev
Nirupama Sanjeev retired during the later 2000s. Nirupama Sanjeev made a comeback in 2010 when she represented India to play in the Commonwealth Games 2010 and in Asian games in Guangzhou as a 33-year old. For the past five years, Nirupama has been on the expert commentary team along with Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj for ESPN-STAR sports. Nirupama also runs a tennis coaching camp in the Bay Area, California. She is launching her autobiography "The Moonballer" in August this year.
Personal Life of Nirupama Sanjeev
On 23rd May 2002, Nirupama Sanjeev married Sanjeev Balakrishnan, a software engineer from Bay Area, California.
