<p>Bengaluru: Comfort becomes a long lost friend. Familiarity feels like a distant relative. Everything and everyone close to the heart is no longer a stone’s throw away. Well aware of the absence of all such luxuries he was signing up for, promising player <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/tennis/karnataka-open-atp-challenger-kriish-manish-punch-quarters-berth-4001701">Kriish Tyagi </a>took the plunge to study and play collegiate tennis at Texas A&M University in the USA. </p>.<p>The benefits of living on his own for the first time as a teen, for over a year now, is already beginning to show positive signs, feels the 19-year-old Bengaluru boy who has been India’s Junior no. 1, won the under-14, U-16, U-18 National Championship titles and reached as high as 33 in the Junior ITF world ranking. </p>.<p>“Honestly, before I went to college, I was expecting it to be tough because I’m going to be alone,” says Tyagi. </p>.<p>“Here, my family was always there to do everything. There, I do everything from taking care of my food, classes, physio, training... by myself. That has definitely made me more responsible.” </p>.<p>Tyagi’s era of ‘taking ownership of my own life’ has not only raised the quality of his game but also helped develop a mature approach to handling challenges on court. Both of which were evident at the ongoing Karnataka Open – the first of the two back-to-back ATP Challenger events at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here.</p>.Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger: Kriish, Manish, Mukund win; top Indian Karan ousted .<p>The world No. 1322 wild card entrant Tyagi, playing his first Tour-level tournament of the season, defeated higher-ranked Japanese -- Taiyo Yamanaka (WR 857) and Yuta Kawahashi (WR 637) -- in the opening two rounds. His big kill came on Thursday when the local lad ousted world No. 328 Hamish Stewart of Great Britain. </p>.<p>“I’m mentally stronger now. I know no one’s going to help me there. And I mean, that correlates on the court. </p>.<p>“Comparatively, there are more players in the US who have the same goals as you to become a good professional. Watching them being disciplined and trying to match their intensity along with managing my studies has helped me a lot,” offers Kriish, who is doing his majors in business and finance. </p>.<p>The urge to learn and gain as much knowledge perhaps comes from the fact that Kriish picked up a tennis racquet as a 10-year-old. According to experts, that is a touch late as kids generally begin playing between the ages of 5-7.</p>.<p>“I never got him enrolled for tennis,” begins mother Sapna. </p>.<p>“He was actually a swimmer. But he always liked watching kids play tennis. So Shyam (Mohan) sir who spotted Kriish, requested us to make the switch before helping us begin the tennis journey,” reminisces Sapna. </p>.<p>Kriish’s interest in the sport soon made him one of the country’s budding junior stars also leading him to the junior Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2025. </p>.<p>Now, a regular trainee at the Harsha Lingappa Tennis Academy here, he is focussed on improving both as a player and person while being a student-athlete in the USA. All the skills and substance he is learning, hopefully, will help him better prepare for the demanding men’s professional tour in the future.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Comfort becomes a long lost friend. Familiarity feels like a distant relative. Everything and everyone close to the heart is no longer a stone’s throw away. Well aware of the absence of all such luxuries he was signing up for, promising player <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/tennis/karnataka-open-atp-challenger-kriish-manish-punch-quarters-berth-4001701">Kriish Tyagi </a>took the plunge to study and play collegiate tennis at Texas A&M University in the USA. </p>.<p>The benefits of living on his own for the first time as a teen, for over a year now, is already beginning to show positive signs, feels the 19-year-old Bengaluru boy who has been India’s Junior no. 1, won the under-14, U-16, U-18 National Championship titles and reached as high as 33 in the Junior ITF world ranking. </p>.<p>“Honestly, before I went to college, I was expecting it to be tough because I’m going to be alone,” says Tyagi. </p>.<p>“Here, my family was always there to do everything. There, I do everything from taking care of my food, classes, physio, training... by myself. That has definitely made me more responsible.” </p>.<p>Tyagi’s era of ‘taking ownership of my own life’ has not only raised the quality of his game but also helped develop a mature approach to handling challenges on court. Both of which were evident at the ongoing Karnataka Open – the first of the two back-to-back ATP Challenger events at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here.</p>.Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger: Kriish, Manish, Mukund win; top Indian Karan ousted .<p>The world No. 1322 wild card entrant Tyagi, playing his first Tour-level tournament of the season, defeated higher-ranked Japanese -- Taiyo Yamanaka (WR 857) and Yuta Kawahashi (WR 637) -- in the opening two rounds. His big kill came on Thursday when the local lad ousted world No. 328 Hamish Stewart of Great Britain. </p>.<p>“I’m mentally stronger now. I know no one’s going to help me there. And I mean, that correlates on the court. </p>.<p>“Comparatively, there are more players in the US who have the same goals as you to become a good professional. Watching them being disciplined and trying to match their intensity along with managing my studies has helped me a lot,” offers Kriish, who is doing his majors in business and finance. </p>.<p>The urge to learn and gain as much knowledge perhaps comes from the fact that Kriish picked up a tennis racquet as a 10-year-old. According to experts, that is a touch late as kids generally begin playing between the ages of 5-7.</p>.<p>“I never got him enrolled for tennis,” begins mother Sapna. </p>.<p>“He was actually a swimmer. But he always liked watching kids play tennis. So Shyam (Mohan) sir who spotted Kriish, requested us to make the switch before helping us begin the tennis journey,” reminisces Sapna. </p>.<p>Kriish’s interest in the sport soon made him one of the country’s budding junior stars also leading him to the junior Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2025. </p>.<p>Now, a regular trainee at the Harsha Lingappa Tennis Academy here, he is focussed on improving both as a player and person while being a student-athlete in the USA. All the skills and substance he is learning, hopefully, will help him better prepare for the demanding men’s professional tour in the future.</p>