I arrived in Antananarivo (Capital of Madagascar) on Saturday evening and found it to be quite interesting. While there is a strong french connection, the native population does maintain a very distinct identity. People are quite friendly and settling in was easy. I managed to practice for a couple of days on clay but it took time to adjust to the altitude as well as the dry weather before the tournament main draw started.
I was drawn in a tough round robin group. Day 1 I was drawn to play against a player with almost 10 UTR. I started off a bit tentatively and I was rushing through the points. Couldn’t feel the ball well and in no time I lost the set. As I sat down during the break, I told myself that I am here to fight and not give up easily. I have to find solutions. I changed to a higher tension racquet, started rallying the ball longer and longer, and most importantly focused well on serve & return. The change in strategy paid off and finally I ended up with the match in the 3rd set match tiebreak. I was so happy to get my first ITF point. Subsequently I won one more match and lost one to finish number two in my group. Partnered with my friend from Hong Kong to knock of no. 4 seeds in doubles and then losing narrowly in a match tiebreak during the QF. Come Monday, I will have ITF junior ranking.
Best part of junior tour is catching up with old friends and making new friends.
Antananarivo Friendship ITF J30 Madagascar Tennis
Last modified: October 10, 2026
