Maya Iyengar won the ITF Juniors J300 Pan American championship in Spring, Texas this week. The 17-yr old American based out of Arizona has been making her presence felt on the Juniors and the Pro tour over the past couple of years.
Her accomplishments include
- J300 title this week in Spring, Texas
- US Open Girls debut, running Jr World No. 1 close
- W15 finals in California
- J200 final in Dominican Republic
- J200 final in Italy
- J100 title last year in Dominican Republic
- 8 doubles titles on the ITF Junior Tour
Former WTA Pro Mahitha Dadireddy caught up with Maya Iyengar to get an insight into her fabulous journey so far
You had your debut at the US Open recently. Can you talk through that experience?
I had to play quailes. I think it actually helped me a lot because I played Emerson Jones, Junior World No. 1 in the main draw first round.
I came late the night before from a tournament before, so there was no pressure on me, which helped. Then I actually qualified. I actually had tons of chances against the Junior World No. 1 and it was a great experience to play knowing that I’m at that level. So yeah, it was probably my favourite tournament I’ve played so far.
Talk about your 3 matches there. You had wins over Ionescu (WR 157), Kotseva (13-yr old prodigy) before losing to WR 1 Emerson Jones.
Ionescu was higher ranked than me on the WTA rankings, she was playing well and had made a W15 final already. The court suited my game a lot and I won pretty fairly routinely, but I played really, really well.
Against Raya Kotseva in Q2: I actually played a girl, who was aged 13, so it was a little bit more pressure on me but I didn’t play great at all. I found a way at the end. I stayed in it.
So yeah, I think those two matches really helped.
In the 1st round when I played Emerson Jones (Junior World No. 1). Sheo had some jitters as it was her first round too. I played really well that match and it was good to see that my level was right there.
You transitioned to completely playing the higher tier ITF Junior events & Pro tour events this year. How do you review the season so far?
I made a couple of finals, I made a W15 final in California, which was probably like my biggest this year. And then obviously here at ITF J300 Pan American. So, I think I’ve had a pretty good year. I also made two J200 finals..
What do you consider as your strengths and the areas you need to improve to go deep in these tourneys?
I would say my serve would be my strength. It sometimes does break down a little bit, but I think it does get me a lot of free points too. So yeah, and my forehand and trying to play fast with everyone I play and keep the ball deep but yeah, avoiding too many unforced errors and trying to force an error for my opponent but playing fast and yeah, I think I still always need to improve my movement and yeah, I think just trying to problem solve and bit more variety too. So those are kind of the things I would be working on more.
On Coach Vera Leontieva and the support system
Coach Vera, she was actually supposed to make it out here, but she didn’t really want to after last week. I’m actually staying with one of my friends this week. I think it’s a little bit less pressure because I’m not thinking about tennis all the time.
So, yeah, my Dad goes with me sometimes. I actually go alone quite a bit, and my coach Vera will go, but, yeah, my coach really has helped me the most. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Coach Vera and my parents. They always let me do what I want, and they support me no matter what.
On the toughest opponents faced so far
Sara Daavettila, the girl I played in the W15 final. Probably now it’d be a lot closer if I played. I actually played a girl also who plays number one for Georgia. She was really tough too. So I played a couple that are, let’s say gonna go pro and make it. They’re doing really well in all the pro tournaments.
I think Junior wise, her sister actually was one of my harder junior matches. And then maybe my doubles partner from J300 college park (Sonja Zhiyenbayeva). I’ve lost to her twice now. So those types of matches, but I think if I played now, maybe it would be a little different.
On the schedule ahead
I’m gonna go home after this, and then I’m going to play maybe a W35 in South Carolina, depending on – I’m probably gonna be pretty tired after this week, so we’ll see if I want to play or not. But if not, then there’s a W15 maybe, but those I’m not sure.
For sure I’m going to be playing the J300 in Mexico, J500 in Mexico, and then Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl and then I’ll be done.
On the semis win against Annika Penickova (USA, 50) by 36 6-4 7-5 score
In the first set, Annika was completely overpowering me, and these courts are really fast, so it’s a little bit harder for me against her in particular. The other two matches that I played, I liked the courts, but definitely faster courts are not my favourite.
Then, I think I realised she was starting to shake a little bit in the 2nd set 4-all she was up 40-15. And that game, I had really good gets and that was kind of the turning point of the match. In the 3rd set I was at 5-2 40-0 and this girl started playing incredibly. She’s a great player, and I knew she could get going, but it’s hard for her to sustain it just how hard she hits and I could sense she was getting really tired. I think those mistakes were probably just because she was tired.
On the final win against Aspen Schuman (USA, 71) by 6-3 4-6 6-4 score
I lost to her twice in July. It was really close each time, and I had plenty of opportunities in every set that I had lost. I hadn’t even gotten a set, but they were all really close. Actually, in the last tournament I won, I beat her in the finals.
I think we’ve always been together. She’s my best friend. We know each other’s game really well, which makes it very close every time. I know she wasn’t playing her best the first set, but then she really stepped it up and made me work.
On the key moments in the final
There were obviously a lot of deuce games. It was a 3 hour match. It was crazy, like ten deuce games. I think finally that game at 3 all, she cracked. I was just hanging in there and waiting for that moment, which was the most important.
How are you feeling with this win?
Super tired. So probably, I will take a couple days off. Yesterday it was a 3 sets match and today was really long. It was really hot today too. I was actually struggling. I usually don’t, but today was hard, so I’m extremely happy. But I also know that there’s so much work to be done, which I think is good because I’m winning, but there’s still so much room for improvement. But I think it makes me more motivated. So I’m just excited to get back and work. But I also know I got points for all the slams next year, which will be nice.
RAPID FIRE
Favourite Travel Destination?
I want to say Houston now, but usually it’s actually so weird. But Dominican, I play the best in the hot and humid, so that’s how I’ve had my best results there in San Diego, too as I made my pro final there.
Who’s your favourite player?
Aryna Sabalenka
Favourite cuisine?
Italian.
Hobbies
Love baking and cooking. Actually, it’s probably my favourite. Usually after a good tournament, I’ll go back and do something fun, but I might be a little too tired this week, but we’ll get to it.
Any rule in tennis that you would want to change?
The Let serve