Hours after arriving at the SDAT Tennis Stadium on a 10-hour train-and-flight journey from Junagadh without even knowing if a qualifying wild card would open up, 14-year-old Jensi Kanabar (IND, UNR, ITF Junior career-high No. 44) walked onto court for her WTA Tour-level debut at the 2026 WTA 250 Chennai Open and pushed 5th seed Weronika Falkowska (POL, 287) to a 2-hour 22-minute, 3-set thriller (2-6, 7-5, 3-6).
Jensi and her father and coach Dipakbhai Kanabar spoke to Indian Tennis Daily about the last-minute gamble that brought them to Chennai, their backup plan to visit Rameshwaram and Madurai temples if the wild card didn’t materialize, how a government 11th and 12th standard Chemistry teacher with 0 background in tennis built a 24-hour coaching ecosystem in Junagadh with live-streamed practice cameras, and why the court back home is already named the “Kumari Jensi Kanabar Tennis Court.”
Going toe-to-toe with a Top-300 opponent on 24 hours’ notice
Jensi Kanabar: Yes, I could have won it, though I couldn’t execute a few small things properly at the crucial moments. Overall, my experience was really good—playing on such a big stage alongside such top players, watching them up close, and learning from them was a great experience for me. Especially the atmosphere here and the tournament arrangements by the federation and association were really good.
Jensi Kanabar: The other players at this level have much more experience than us. Because of that experience, they do certain things differently that we need to learn—for instance, how they suddenly inject pace on a shot in the middle of a rally and then immediately reset to a normal rally ball, changing the match situation and rhythm completely. That is what I got to learn here.
Jensi Kanabar: In this match, I rallied really well from the baseline, and my consistency was very good.
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): Shrivalli (Shrivalli Bhamidipaty) had originally been allotted a wild card, and the scenario was that if she moved directly into the draw without needing it, that qualifying wild card would open up—and they were ready to give it to us if she moved up. Our discussions were ongoing, and for this I want to thank the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), Vijay sir (Vijay Amritraj), Rajiv sir, Himanshu sir, and Hiten sir (Hiten Joshi) from the bottom of my heart. They told us clearly, “If Shrivalli moves directly in, we are ready to give that wild card to Jensi—but you have to travel here to Chennai in person and take that chance. Whether you come or not is your decision.” So we thought: let’s go! If it works out and she gets in, great; otherwise we will watch the tournament for a day or 2, go to Rameshwaram and Madurai for temple darshan, and return home!
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): We arrived here yesterday at 12:00 PM. From Junagadh, we took a direct train to Ahmedabad, and from Ahmedabad we caught a direct flight to Chennai. In total, it was a 10-hour journey.
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): Yes, we reached around 12:00 to 1:00 PM and immediately completed the on-spot sign-in. Rajiv sir knows Jensi and me very well and is very fond of Jensi, so he took care of all the arrangements for her. Then we were sitting and waiting at the venue, and as soon as Shrivalli moved directly in, the wild card freed up. The supervisor ma’am and Hiten sir told us, “We are giving this wild card to Jensi—get ready!”
Jensi Kanabar: Honestly, I never even know or check what rank my opponent is! (Dipakbhai nods beside her, confirming she was indeed the highest-ranked opponent Jensi has played so far.)
Jensi Kanabar: Yes, I have actually faced even faster serves than that, and I have practiced against big serves as well—though today I hadn’t done serve practice before the match.
Jensi Kanabar: With all of that, I am going back home genuinely happy. From my side, I learned a lot from this match, and there are several things that gave me real joy. Next time, I won’t repeat the mistakes I made today, and I will try to do even better.
How a Chemistry teacher built a 24-hour coaching ecosystem around his daughter
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): My hometown, Junagadh, is very small, but the tennis environment there is very solid and foolproof. Many good players of my age play tennis regularly there, and I have a whole team that backs me. Besides me, I have 2 coaches who stay at the courts 24 hours a day and whose sole responsibility is looking after Jensi. And whenever I step outside Junagadh, I receive tremendous support—in Ahmedabad, whichever major academy Jensi visits, they are always welcoming and supportive of her. Rohan Bopanna sir and his team have also supported me a lot, and I have received great support in Pune as well.
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): Whenever there is something technical I don’t understand, I reach out and ask experts—like AD sir in Chandigarh and other senior coaches. Secondly, I also have support from outside India: 2 or 3 prominent international coaches whom I met at tournaments told me, “Whenever there is any small detail Jensi needs help with, we can guide you.” I also have a close friend in Rajkot who is a very fine coach and understands the finer technical nuances deeply, so he supports me too. All of them have live video access to Jensi’s practice sessions—when Jensi practices on our courts in Junagadh, they can watch the live camera feed and guide us.
And secondly, while tennis is tough, by God’s grace it feels as if the algorithm of tennis has naturally set itself inside my mind! Watching an opponent across the net, I instinctively know beforehand when she is going to hit deep and when she is going to pull an angle. If Jensi just looks at me 30 seconds before a point starts, I can tell her what the opponent is about to do. It happens naturally—almost like telepathy! Whenever it clicks with Jensi, it gives us an edge; I don’t know why, sir, but I get the read in advance.
“Watching an opponent across the net, I instinctively know beforehand when she is going to hit deep and when she is going to pull an angle. If Jensi just looks at me 30 seconds before a point starts, I can tell her what the opponent is about to do. It happens naturally—almost like telepathy!”
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): When I was young, Steffi Graf was my favorite player. Apart from cricket, if I watched any sport, it was tennis. Right back then, I had decided that if I ever had a daughter, I would make her play tennis. So ever since Jensi was tiny—from the age of 3.5 years—she has been in regular coaching. It has been 11 years now, sir; she is currently in her 12th year of training.
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): I haven’t worked with anyone else, sir. I am a government teacher—I used to teach 11th and 12th standard Science (Chemistry), and I also had my own school. I gave up everything else. My government job continues, and my institution and the entire Education Department support me wholeheartedly. The district administration in Junagadh also backs me completely, so my leave gets sanctioned immediately whenever I need to travel with Jensi—nobody ever lets any hurdle come in our way, which is a huge blessing for me. Everything else I left behind, and 100% of my focus is on Jensi alone.
Dipakbhai Kanabar (Father): For Jensi’s current daily training, 4 of us friends pooled together to build 2 courts on rented land for 4 players—the other 3 players now train in Ahmedabad, so Jensi practices on those 2 rented courts. But originally, until 2020, Jensi played at the Junagadh Gymkhana, which has 3 courts—1 synthetic court and 2 clay courts. Jensi played there for years before we shifted to our rented courts. When Jensi returned after winning the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Under-14 title, our District Collector sir was so delighted that he granted Jensi a lifetime honorary membership of the Junagadh Gymkhana and officially named the court where she grew up playing the “Kumari Jensi Kanabar Tennis Court.” Just now here in Chennai, I saw the court named after Vijay Amritraj sir—and back home in Junagadh, it is called the “Kumari Jensi Kanabar Tennis Court.” That honor is worth far more than money, sir.
Targeting the body to turn the match around
Jensi Kanabar: In that 2nd set, I was starting to spot her weak point, and I simply tried to implement whatever Papa was telling me from the sidelines—which succeeded and won me points.
Jensi Kanabar: In the 2nd set, she was getting jammed whenever the ball was directed straight into her body. By the 3rd set, she started anticipating it and adjusting, and I couldn’t mix up my patterns quite enough.