Levin Safoor Mydeen is a name that has not been heard much in junior tennis circles in the country. Yet, the 13-year-old boy, a student of Pushpalata Vidya Mandir in Tirunelveli, did catch one’s attention by winning the Asian under-14 title at the Modern School, Barakhamba Road, in the Capital, without dropping a set.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic knew about the boy, even before the pandemic, as an under-12 champion of the Mubadala Championship in Abu Dhabi in 2019.
What the stars foretell
Levin, on vacation with his family at his uncle’s place in Abu Dhabi, did elicit a comment from Djokovic: ‘’I want to see you playing in Wimbledon, 10 years from now’’. This was after a nice interaction and hitting session with the World No. 1, which was part of the reward for winning six matches for the title.
He also got to meet Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sharapova among others, getting autographs and photos, apart from a miniature of the real trophy.
‘’Djokovic gave Levin his racquet and played with him for about 15 minutes’’, said Levin’s father Safoor Mydeen, a branch manager of HDFC Bank.
Levin has been training on one court of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) at the Anna Stadium in Tirunelveli, with coach Kumaramanimaran for the last six years.
‘’The boy is talented and committed. Even after about a week at the start, he was able to hit a 100-shot rally on forehand. He is a quick learner. If he builds more muscle mass, he will be able to bring more power to his game. Our target is to make him strong physically, technically and mentally by the time he is 18. We are ready to avoid early results to ensure that he stays injury-free’’, said Manimaran, quite caring and concerned for the proper growth of the boy.
After the under-14 title at the Asian event, Levin got a main draw entry for the under-16 event the following week and lost only to the eventual champion, top seed Dhruv Sachdeva, in the semifinals.
Heart-warming results
The encouraging results in the heat of Delhi, has been heart warming for the family and the coach, who hope that the boy would get suitable support to pursue his tennis dreams.
“We are seeking three more clay courts to cater to so many different levels of players. We are in touch with the District Collector who has assured help’’, said coach Manimaran.
