India’s top-ranked woman singles player Shrivalli Bhamidipaty added another accolade to her growing list by winning the Billie Jean King Cup Heart Award last week. The award is given to players who have represented their country with distinction, shown exceptional courage on court and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the team during BJK Cup events throughout the year. And Bhamidipaty showed plenty of those qualities as she won all her five singles matches during the Asia Oceania Group I ties in February in Pune this year.
This makes Bhamidipaty only the third Indian to win the Billie Jean King Cup Heart award after Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina. We caught up with the 23-year-old recently to talk about what winning the award means to her and more.
Indian Tennis Daily: Thank you for talking to us. Congratulations on winning the Belgian King Cup Heart Award. Can you share your thoughts about winning the award and what it means to you.
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty: First of all, thank you so much for having me and I definitely feel happy and humbled that I’ve received this award because representing your country, we always try to give our 100% and to be recognized for that, I’m really grateful for the opportunity. But I couldn’t have done this alone, so I would like to thank the entire team, the coach, the captain, all the players and especially the voters who have voted for me. I would like to thank them for all the support that they’ve given me.
Indian Tennis Daily: Now that it’s been a couple of months since the ties in Pune, how do you look back at that week? What are your thoughts when you reflect on that experience right now?
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty: It was definitely a wonderful experience because we had some amazing crowds come up there and cheer for all of us. There was some electrifying energy there and we had some really good fun and some really good bonding on the team. I think we all understood each other well and we backed ourselves really well on the team and we could definitely see the result.
Indian Tennis Daily: This week the news has just come that Bengaluru will be holding the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs in November. How excited are you about playing again at home?
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty: I think it’s a big boost for all of us again playing at home and I think everybody who have tried to host this tournament back at home have done a really great job. KSLTA (Karnata State Lawn Tennis Association), Sunil (Yajaman) Sir and his entire team and the AITA (All India Tennis Association). It takes a lot of effort behind the scenes to host such a tournament at a I think it’s going to be a wonderful thing for all of us when they back us again.
Indian Tennis Daily: Final question, what’s your schedule looking like in the coming weeks?
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty: I’m probably traveling to the US to play some W100s and W75s. So that’s what is scheduled for the next few weeks.