Indian No. 2 tennis player Sahaja Yamalapalli made her WTA Debut at the WTA 250 Tennis in the Land powered by Rocket Mortgage event in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sahaja, who is ranked World No. 305, lost to 𝟗𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐳𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐨 of Spain by a scoreline of 2-6 1-6 in the opening qualifying round.

Sahaja spoke to Indian Tennis Daily on her experience. Excerpts below:

This was your first time playing at the WTA level event. How was the experience?

It was unreal. I mean, I never get in at these WTA events. I just came here and I was like, you know, if I don’t get in, I’ll just be around the top-100 players, and then just learn from watching.

That’s the only reason I came. I ended up getting in. I was super excited to compete. I didn’t think I would go so deep in the tournament. I just wanted to play. I just wanted to learn how they’re playing and how I would compete against them and all that.

It’s a great experience because I was practicing and then I see on the next court Sofia Kenin was practicing.

I was kind of intimidated. I was like, oh my God, I’m around all these players
I was watching on TV before and now they’re next to me practicing. So it’s really great.

I’m having fun, even though the result didn’t go my way.

Thoughts on the match with your opponent?
She is extremely tough and she’s been doing really well on the court too. Like in Wimbledon, she beat Markéta Vondroušová in the first round.

Coming into the match I knew I had to be spot on every point, which I didn’t. I failed to do that today.

I was okay. I didn’t play my best, but I think I fought well and I was trying at least, but she just didn’t give me even a little bit of chance for me to come back in the match.

I had to hit spot on and play spot on every point and I wasn’t able to do that, which is something I need to work on.

How is it playing against the top 100 players? How is it different from playing against the 300 or 400 ranked players?

I think with top 100 players, I feel like mentally you have to be there at every point. There is no easy point. You cannot just give away not even one point.

It is not just playing, but quality of the ball too. It has to be perfect every single time to beat them. You can maybe play a close match, but to beat them, you have to hit that spot in every corner of the board. You have to be able to do that every point against top 100 players, which you might get away with it against 300, 400 players, you know.

Because I played many matches and then first set, I just blew it completely, and then I come back and win the match. But with top 100 players, I feel like I don’t have that loose end to do that.

And post your title in Los Angeles when Indian Tennis Daily interviewed you, you had some niggles. How are you feeling physically now and where does your game stand in terms of your level?

I’ve been having a little bit of physical problems, you know, pains here and there, and I’m playing through them, so I’m not 100% physically.

I just need a little bit of break, for a few days to recover, and I should be okay.

Game point of view, I think I’m playing well. I’m playing way higher level tourneys than what I normally compete against players. So, of course, I’m not able to beat them, but I think I’m learning a lot, and for sure it’s a really good learning step for me to take it and then try to improve on that.

What does your schedule look like for the next month or two?
I’m going to take like 2-3 weeks off just to recover and also work on things that I’ve been learning because it’s only been learning.

There was not much training going on, so I really need some break and to learn and just get back again, and try to be at that level again.

I’m going to probably just play the California tournaments starting from mid-September and then, I don’t know.