By: Rich Fisher
Arjun Sapra does not look like your typical tennis player on the court. He’s not the speediest guy, doesn’t appear to have a long reach that can turn sure winners into a return shot, and his overall build seems a bit huskier than a lot of guys in the sport.
But they don’t keep score on appearances, only on points.
And on opening day last Friday, Sapra won most of those points in taking a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sayreville’s Greg Czachor at second singles. The sophomore’s efforts helped the Vikings to a 5-0 victory over the Blue Bombers.
"He’s big and strong," Viking coach Nancy McDonald said. "He’s not the quickest on his feet, but he makes up for it with his strength, and he’s pretty consistent."
"I’m pretty out of shape right now, I have to get back into it," Sapra said. "There are other guys bigger than me, but I just want to show them what I can do on the court when I start playing. I don’t want them to get any pre-conceived notions I’m not a good player. But if they want to let their guard down, I’ll take that too."
Sapra, who spent nearly all of last year playing on the JV doubles team, is one of seven players in new positions for the Vikings this spring. With eight seniors graduating last year, he knew there would be a chance for playing time.
"It was pretty much open, I was hoping to get one of the three spots," Sapra said. "I figured Rohan (Patkar) would be number one. I was hoping to get the two or three spot, just get as high as I could."
Sapra grew up playing basketball, and did not pay much attention to tennis for most of his youth. But at age 12, he began taking a more intense interest. He took lessons and played for Crossroads, and is now playing tournaments year-round.
"A lot of us on this team eat, sleep and drink tennis," Sapra said.
Last summer, he was involved in numerous United States Tennis Association events, and reached the finals of a tournament at Princeton Racket Club before falling the Hunterdon Central’s number-one singles. He would also hit with his Viking teammates at the high school courts until the lights were turned off.
"He worked on his game really hard," McDonald said. "He’s really into tennis. He talks tennis, talks about what players are good around the area. He’s into tennis in general, and it shows.
"Last year he came up to varsity for a little while and was probably my sixth singles player. He got a little experience and he’s worked on his game really hard."
Sapra felt that experience helped him when it came to opening-day jitters.
"I felt confident," he said. "I was a little nervous in the warm-up, that’s always my period where I feel a little nervous. But I started playing, got used to the atmosphere, it was good weather so I just took advantage of that. Getting a little exposure last year helped.
"I trained hard since last season, I wanted to get up here. Everything paid off, I guess. I was ready for a long match (against ??), but it worked out for the best."
One thing noticeable about Sapra is his poise, which seemed intact for most of the match.
"He looks like he’s mature enough to be able to handle the pressures," McDonald said. "That’s one of the things you have to worry about, going from a JV doubles position where you have a partner and somebody to talk to, to being out here and having to do the job by yourself. Obviously he’s got the match toughness where he’s able to work out all the pressures that come up. I guess we’ll see."
As for his game, Sapra is happy with his serve and volley, but wants to develop a more potent shot that can put a point away quicker.
"I just want to improve my net game," he said. "My transition to the net is not good. My approach shots are pretty weak going up to the net, I get lazy, I can’t step forward and I end up pushing the ball. I want to try mixing my game up a little bit.
"I also have to work on my footwork and my build. I want to get faster and get my strokes pretty accurate."
Sapra was joined in the opening-day winner’s circle by first singles Rohan Patkar and third singles Najeeb Hussain. The Vikes also got doubles wins from Brian Binder-Shuang Yang and Mike Finkelburg-Guha Balakrishna.
South Brunswick moved to 2-0 on Tuesday with a 4-1 win over Old Bridge, as Patkar and Hussain won at singles and both doubles teams also moved to 2-0.

