Mumbai, Feb 25: As a child Aryan Goveas was hyper active and his pediatrician suggested his parents to streamline his energies in some outdoor sports. His parents Reena and Bruno Goveas sincerely heeded to the suggestion and the results are there for all to see.

14-year old Aryan Goveas is now India no. 3 and Maharashtra no. 1 in the under-14 age group Tennis Circuit and now he has pinned his goal to be India’s no.1. Considering his meteoric rise from world no. 46 in 2011 to No. 3 by the end of 2012 and the maturity he exhibits beyond his 14 summers, there is every reason to believe that Aryan is going to be the new sensation in India’s tennis circuit. It is certainly good news for Mangaloreans because Aryan is the grandson of legendary Konkani singer late Jerome and Agnes D Souza and his mother Reena Goveas is a noted professional singer in bollywood.

Success always doesn’t come on a platter and Aryan Goveas has been the best example to prove this. It is the deadly combination of his talent, hard work and dedication that has propelled him to be among the top three in the glamorous sports of tennis where endurance, stamina and talent of the individual player are tested to the hilt. For a 14-year old Aryan is endowed with good physique and mental toughness, the essential prerequisites for a sportsperson in today’s competitive and challenging sports field. No doubt, the indefatigable Rafel Nadel is Aryan’s role model in tennis.

Aryan with Aditya and Alon

With Spanish player David Ferrer

Aryan in France

That he has shown maturity beyond his age can be gauged from the fact that this 9th standard has been able to efficiently balance his studies and professional sports career, doing equally well in his academics also. With almost six hours of daily practice that includes two hours of fitness regime and regular tournaments to attend to, Aryan is not able to attend his classes on a regular basis. Vibgyor High School, where he is a class 9 student has been very supportive and proud of his exploits in the sports field and has given him special permission to attend school only a week or so. His mother Reena says “It is a great blessing that he is good in studies and manages on his own with some special classes in one or two subjects”.

Aryan who began playing tennis at the age of 7 had joined Prac Tennis academy at Kandivli for coaching. It was his father Bruno Goveas, who is into sports PR, first introduced him to tennis and Aryan took to it like a duck into the water. Since commuting from Meera road to the academy became tedious his parents changed their residence. Needless to say they chose a home having tennis court in the complex and that really worked wonders for the boy.

Currently, Aryan is trained by Aditya Madkekar at Tennis Excellence in Khar, Gymkhana with supportive coaching from Alon Moses and Rahil Makharia. His physical fitness is monitored by KaifiAfzal and his nutrition and diet is taken care by DeepaNandy. “My coaches are tennis players and that in itself is a great advantage for a player like me to aim for the best” Aryan says.

His achievements speak volumes of his talents as he became the first player since 2004 from Maharashtra to be picked for representing the country in the Junior ITF championships held in Manilla, Philippines and the Junior World Championships held in Malyasia in 2012. His selection was based on his performance in the national junior tennis circuit and his improved ranking in the under-14 category of All India Tennis Association. Aryan was the national runner-up in single in the boy’s under-14 category national championship held in 2012.

The stupendous success of Aryan in 2011 can be attributed to the fact the he underwent two months extensive training in Tennis Val Academy at Valencia, Spain. He also played tournaments in Normandy, France, which gave him exposure to international matches and also enhanced his confidence levels. Now Aryan goes to Spain twice a year for his training and each trip costs a minimum of Rs. 3 laks. Fortunately racquet brand “Head” is sponsoring his kit for his domestic tournaments, which has come as a big financial relief for the family.

Aryan’s parents are determined to provide all possible support and help for Aryan to achieve his goal. Reena who used to travel six months a year as a professional singer had to cut down her assignments to some extent as she had to accompany her son during the initial years. “Now he has a coach to accompany him to tournaments and so I don’t have to do the running around. But initially I had to accompany him to various tournaments. Our entire life revolved around his career. But the end result was sweet because Aryan produced good results and all our efforts have given good results, Reena states. Bruno adds: “His coaches gave us excellent feedback on his potential and that gave us hope and we responded with whatever little adjustments and sacrifices we could”.

Apart from a strong physique tailor-made for tennis Aryan has a good serve and volley game. He has a powerful forehand and is mentally quite strong. “To achieve success in tennis one has to be mentally tough and must possess a positive temperament. If we make up our mind nothing is impossible to achieve” he tells me.

Aryan has to play more international tournaments to accrue points so that he gets qualified to play in Wimbledon junior championship. Since these points are valid only for 52 weeks Aryan has to be on the move playing tournaments to improve his ranking by accruing valuable points.

Aryan is focused on improving his ranking his priority is to focus on following a development pattern to achieve long term goals. Considering his talent, dedication to the sport he loves, coupled with the desire to work hard is sure to see Aryan creating ripples in the national and international arena. But he needs to play more international tournaments and also equip with more training abroad. It would be of immense help to Aryan if some companies come forward to sponsor him.