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Displaying rare commitment and consistency, 14-year-old tennis player Kyra Shroff rose in early April to the rank of India No 1 in the girls under-18 category. Shortly thereafter Shroff was selected as part of the junior girls Federation Cup team for the tournament beginning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 7. "She will represent her country (as part of the team) for the first time at the age of 14. I’m sure she is the first Parsi girl to achieve this rare distinction,” says her proud father Firdaus. "This is a good stepping stone. If Kyra moves on to the senior team, she will get to rub shoulders with players like Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi.”

Tennis player Kyra Shroff: India No 1 in under-18

With a current ranking of 258 (as of third week of April), Shroff trains at the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy (MBTA) in Bangalore in their Elite training program. "If she can get into the top 200 (international junior ranking), she can aim for the qualifying rounds of the Junior US Open. Her strengths are her court coverage, volleying, second service. She regularly volleys while others tend to play baseline,” assesses Firdaus, a keen sportsman himself and follower of the game. "Her consistency has improved dramatically after joining the MBTA Elite program. Intensity probably needs to be worked on. While our girls get 10 powerful shots in, the foreigners sneak in with the 11th one! For that one crucial shot, you see more power, speed and depth from foreign players.”

Mid May, Shroff leaves for Europe to play ETA (European Tennis Association) tournaments. ETAs fetch no ITF (International Tennis Federation) points but playing on their clay court surfaces improves strength, experience and consistency as slow courts mean more rallies, explains her father. The rule says players get to participate in ITFs one less than their age, so Kyra gets to play 13 and she has already played nine, adds Firdaus. In January 2007, at the BKSP International Junior Championships 2007 at Dhaka in Bangladesh (an ITF event), Shroff vanquished players from India, Philippines and Netherlands before defeating higher-ranked Nigora Sirojiddinova of Uzbekistan in the final.

The lass maintains a gruelling fitness regime at the Academy, despite suffering from juvenile diabetes. "If you want to achieve something, you’ve got to do something differently. Every kid makes some sacrifices. I chose to make a few more. It’s about going the extra mile,” Shroff told Shivani Naik, Mumbai Newsline, April 12, ’07.