Nidhi Chilumula,20-year-old who achieved two silver medals at the Kerala National Games recently will play in a team led by Sania Mirza, she will represent the country in the Fed Cup championship to be held at Hyderabad from April 14.
Nidhi joined in her childhood favourite Sania Mirza’s Tennis Academy (SMTA) in December 2013 and enhanced her playing skills.“This is a huge honour. More so because I will be playing under someone whom I cheered as a 10-year-old kid from the stands, when Sania won her first WTA singles title in 2005 at LB Stadium,” Nidhi said.
“Joining the SMTA and training with Sania is a huge learning curve in my career. She has given me so many invaluable tips,” recalls Nidhi. “I am really grateful to Sania’s parents – Imran and Nasima for their support,” she said. “Interactions with WTA Tour consultant Christian Filhol and also (fitness trainer and former Aussie Olympian) Robert Ballard helped me achieve my highest WTA ranking of 581 in singles and 428 in doubles.”
Right now, this young champion’s plans include playing 24 to 30 ITF tournaments in different countries in the next one year.
A B.Com graduate from Keshav Memorial College, Nidhi is looking for corporate support. “It will be of great help if someone supports my training programmes,” she said. A native of Telangana, Nidhi is also looking at support from the State government.
