Who is Manas Dhamne? 15-year-old wildcard entry at Tata Open Maharashtra

He lost to WR. 113 Michael Mmoh in his first singles match.

Manas Dhamne, the 15-year-old is considered a young prodigy in Indian tennis. The player from Maharashtra put up a great fight against WR 113 Michael Mmoh from the United States at the Tata Open Maharashtra 2023. Manas was given a wildcard entry into the main draw along with Sasikumar Mukund and Sumit Nagal. The youngster previously has played only age-group tennis and this was his first ATP tour event.

Generally, a youngster first plays the ITF tour then proceeds to the Challengers, and then finally the ATP tour. Manas Dhamne at such a young age was fortunate enough to get an opportunity and made full use of it as well showing great skills. He has not played a single challenger event to date and took on Mmoh, who participated in the four grand slams in 2022. In the junior circuit, Manas is ranked 80th in the singles section and the career-best ranking reaching 73.

Manas Dhamne's achievements so far:

#1 The Pune-born teenager is the current Asian Junior champion and one of the youngest to clinch that title. Also, he was the former UTR world No. 1 in the U-12 category.

#2 Manas Dhamne is the first player born in 2007 to play a main draw match on the ATP Tour.

#3 In the recently concluded National Games in Gujarat, Manas was part of the Maharashtra men’s team which won the gold medal. The youngster defeated Faisal (3-6,6-3,7-5) in the final. He was participating in his first National Games and at that time he was just 14 years old.

#4 The youngster won the MSLTA-PMDTA ITF Asian B1 Pune event held in September 2022. Manas Dhamne went on to defeat another promising youngster Aryan Shah. Manas was seeded fifth and defeated higher-seeded Yuvan Nandal in the semifinals.

#5 The 15-year-old is set to feature in the Australian Open juniors along with finalist Aryan Shah.

#6 Dhamne has also been selected for the Grand Slam Player Grant Programme 2023.

There are many players apart from Manas who are progressing well in the junior circuit. The likes of Aman Dahiya, Yuvan Nandal, Rushil Khosla, Manas Dhamne, and Aryan Shah have made a mark in the junior circuit. In the women’s section Vaishnavi Adkar looks like a bright talent. 22-year-old Vaidhehi Chaudhari recently won the ITF 15 Gwalior Challenger and had a good 2022 season progressing in the ITF challenger circuit.