Jan. 30 was a quiet day in Charlottesville. The Faculty Senate discussed job vacancies, it was a crisp 30 degrees downtown and O-Hill was serving up pasta and bacon cheeseburgers for lunch. Yawn.
It was also the day Somdev Devvarman was chosen to represent India in the Davis Cup (think the Olympics of tennis). Although this news might not have rocked the Virginia sports scene the same way an upset of Duke would a week later, it was headline news 8,000 miles away in a nation of a billion rabid tennis fans.
"Davis Cup call-up 'robs' state of possible Games medal" screamed a headline in the Calcutta Telegraph. The article bemoaned the "sweet pain" felt by residents of the Assam state when the news arrived that Devvarman's Davis Cup nod meant he wouldn't be able to anchor the region's team in the upcoming Indian National Games.
"It is a matter of great pride for the entire Northeast that one of our boys is playing not only in the Davis Cup but is also a leading player in the U.S.," said Swapnil Borthakur, a tennis official in Assam.
For those of you who don't make the Snyder courts a regular stop on your tour de Virginia sports, Devvarman is what's known as "crazy good." The 22-year-old junior from Chennai, India, was a surprise contender in last year's NCAA singles tournament, cruising all the way to the title match before falling to UCLA's Benjamin Kohlloeffel. Before arriving in Charlottesville, however, Virginia's No. 1 seed was a child prodigy in his native country, reigning as the top junior in both singles and doubles.
Growing up, "no one in my family really played much tennis," Devvarman said. "Everyone played recreation for fun, but no one was competitive. There was [a tennis academy] in my neighborhood, so I played there until I was about 15, and then I figured it was either going to be tennis or not and I wanted to try playing because I enjoyed it."
That meant moving away from home and joining the prestigious Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy, where Devvarman circled the globe playing matches against the world's top junior players.
"I would never say [I was a] celebrity, but I started to get noticed a little bit more by the [International Tennis] Federation and it helped me because I got picked for teams that traveled to Europe and Australia," Devvarman said.
One of the people who took notice was Virginia coach Brian Boland, who routinely casts his recruiting net far beyond the American border.
"I played a bunch of junior tournaments in America and around the world, and they recruit so hard," Devvarman said. "[Virginia] looks at every guy from any country, so they just got in touch with me and soon enough I was convinced to play."
Signing on with the Cavaliers meant passing up national celebrity for a cramped, cinderblock room in the Kent dorm (complete with a shared bathroom and a dining hall meal plan) as well as a spot on the Virginia roster.
"There's this one guy who I traveled with my whole last year in Juniors," Devvarman said. "He's like the No. 1 player in India right now and he plays Davis Cup. I see his results and I know I could've been the same thing as he is, but he's never been to college, you know?"
With his Davis Cup nod two months ago, Devvarman almost had his feet in both worlds. A visa mix-up, however, kept him grounded in the airport, unable to follow the team to Uzbekistan for the Cup's opening round. Shrugging off the disappointment, and after watching his country's young squad fall 4-1 to the Uzbeks, Devvarman was forced to concentrate once again on shredding his stateside competition as the No. 2 singles player in the nation and half of the No. 2 doubles team.
Once he has his degree in hand, however, expect to see Devvarman take a shot at the professional level.
"I'd like to play professional tennis, at least give myself a shot for a couple years," Devvarman said. "And if it works out, it's well and good, but if not, I still went to U.Va. and that counts for something."
After blasting through the junior circuit and the American college scene, there's a good chance you'll be able to watch Devvarman trading points with the pros in the not-too-distant future. Until then, he'll be enjoying a low-profile in Charlottesville -- even though his movements are being followed by a nation halfway around the world.
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