Once Asia’s No 1 in the under-14 category, tennis player Shweta Rana is struggling to make a place for herself in the relative anonymity of the international arena. At the age of 16 and with two more years to play on the junior circuit, the youngster is confident she can turn it around with a fresh start next year.

The focus, she says, will be on the women’s circuit from 2010, and not the juniors.

“This has been a very up-down year for me, and the main reason for that has been my health. I fell ill a few times and also twisted my ankle, so I haven’t played many tournaments this year either," she says, speaking to Sportline.

“I did play a few women’s circuit tournaments this year to see what the experience would be like, so from the next season, I will concentrate on that and on getting a good ranking. I haven’t chalked out a definite schedule yet, but the concentration will definitely be on seniors events," Shweta added.

On the junior circuit, the Delhi player’s current world rank is 510. She began the year in the top 300, but gradually slipped down as the months progressed, a string of first-round exits and a total of only seven events played on the ITF junior circuit since January to be blamed for that statistic.

Shweta is part of the probables training for next year’s Commonwealth Games, and she feels the camps organised with a view to the players’s betterment has definitely helped.

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