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Nirupama Sanjeev

Sanjeev withRohan Bopanna at the2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, October 2010.
Country (sports)	India
Residence	San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Born	(1976-12-08)8 December 1976 (age 48) Coimbatore, India
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	1992
Retired	2010
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$182,057
Official website	www.nirustennis.com
Singles
Career record	180–155
Career titles	0WTA, 2ITF
Highest ranking	No. 134 (7 July 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1998)
French Open	Q2 (2001)
Wimbledon	Q3 (2001)
US Open	Q3 (1999)
Doubles
Career record	106–94
Career titles	0 WTA, 10 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 115 (23 July 2001)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (1998,2001)
French Open	1R (2001)
Wimbledon	2R (2001)
US Open	Q1 (1997,2001)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2000)
Medal record Representing India Women's tennis Asian Games 1998 Bangkok Mixed doubles

Nirupama Sanjeev (néeVaidyanathan; born 8 December 1976) is an Indian former professionaltennis player. In the1998 Australian Open, Sanjeev became the second Indian woman (afterNirupama Mankad) in theOpen era to feature in amajor main draw, the first one in singles, and the first to win a major match, defeatingGloria Pizzichini. She also won thebronze medal at the1998 Bangkok Asian Games in mixed doubles, partneringMahesh Bhupathi. Sanjeev was the first Indian woman to enter the top 200 of therankings in singles.

Nirupama was born in the Southern Indian town ofCoimbatore. She started playing tennis at the age of 5 and was influenced very much by her brother. Her father K.S. Vaidyanathan was a cricketer who had played forTamil Nadu in Ranji Cricket tournament; he coached her at the start of her career. Her first tennis tournament foray was the National Under 12 tournament, where she reached the semi-final and went on to win her 1st National title in Under 14 age group at the age of 13. One year later in 1991, she won the National Women's title at age 14 and also won the National Women's title in 1992–1996.^[1]

In 1996, she moved to Luxembourg and she turned professional at the age of 18. She player her firstWTA-level tournament in late October 1996, at theSEAT Open. She won two matches in the qualifying stages, before losing toJana Kandarr. On 17 November 1996, Sanjeev won her firstITF Women's Circuit title, defeatingRaluca Sandu in the finals of the $25,000 tournament inBad Gögging, Germany. Sanjeev played her firstGrand Slam tournament at the1997 Australian Open, where she lost in the second qualifying round toYuka Yoshida, having overcomePetra Mandula in the previous round.

Nirupama shifted her base toSarasota, Florida in 1997 where she trained with David O Meara who was the former coach ofLeander Paes for two years. At the1997 Lipton Championships in March, her third WTA-level event, she failed to win her first match, losing it toElena Brioukhovets. A month later, she competed in the main draw of a WTA-level event for the first time (at the1997 Japan Open), with qualifying wins overYi Jing-qian,Keiko Nagatomi, andAkiko Morigami. However, she fell in the first round toJolene Watanabe. The following week, at theDanamon Open inJakarta, she played her second WTA-level main draw match, losing it also (toYuka Yoshida). During theclay court season, she would fall in the first qualifying matches of both theInternationaux de Strasbourg (toKristina Brandi), as well asRoland Garros (toPark Sung-hee). Although she still didn't qualify, Sanjeev performed a little better at thegrass court tournaments, winning her first qualifying matches at both theDFS Classic (againstHaruka Inoue) andWimbledon (againstKate Warne-Holland). She also failed to qualify for theUS Open, winning only one match. During the course of the 1996–97, Sanjeev also won four ITF titles in doubles with different partners.

At the1998 Australian Open, Sanjeev was awarded awildcard into the main draw (her first and ultimately the only appearance in a singles Grand Slam main draw). She became the first Indian female in the modern era to feature and win a round at a main drawGrand Slam, beating Italy'sGloria Pizzichini.

Later that year, in April, she couldn't qualify for theMakarska Championships, being defeated byVirág Csurgó. Although she lost in the final qualifying round of theBol Open, she received entry into the main draw as alucky loser; however, she lost the encounter againstAmélie Mauresmo. She also went on to lose in the qualifying stages of both thePáginas Amarillas Open and theFrench Open, as well asWimbledon, theBank of the West Classic, theBoston Cup, and theUS Open. She then won thebronze medal at the1998 Bangkok Asian Games in mixed doubles, partneringMahesh Bhupathi.

The1999 season saw her losing her qualifying matches at theThalgo Open and theAustralian Open (falling toBrie Rippner andSandra Kleinová, respectively). She further failed to qualify for the clay court WTA events she played in April–May, losing toEva Bes Ostariz,Rosa María Andrés Rodríguez,Janet Lee, andSurina De Beer, at thePortugal Open, theBelgian Open, theInternationaux de Strasbourg, and theFrench Open, respectively. She also had a disappointing result atWimbledon. However, at theUS Open, she did have two good wins in qualifying againstTathiana Garbin andKatalin Marosi, followed by two further qualifying wins againstMireille Dittmann andMagdalena Maleeva at theMalaysian Open, and another at theThailand Open againstTatiana Kovalchuk.

After promising wins againstJaslyn Hewitt andKimberly Po at the2000 Australian Open qualifying, she fell toKerry-Anne Guse. AtRoland Garros, she lost toDesislava Topalova; and atWimbledon, she lost toVanessa Webb. She did manage to win a match at theUS Open, though, againstSybille Bammer in the qualifying. Sanjeev then went on to representIndia at the2000 Sydney Olympics, playing in the women's doubles event withManisha Malhotra. The team suffered a defeat at the hands ofAustraliansJelena Dokic andRennae Stubbs in round one. Earlier in the 2000, she won her second (and ultimately the last)ITF title in April, winning againstSai Jayalakshmy Jayaram in the $10,000 tournament held oncarpet courts inNew Delhi. Nirupama won a total of four ITF doubles titles in 2000, and reached a further two finals, making it a career-best season in doubles.

At the2001 Australian Open qualifying, as well, she lost toAlexandra Fusai in the final round. During the Middle East swing at theQatar Ladies Open and theDubai Tennis Championships, she lost toLenka Němečková in the first qualifying round in the former; but, managed to make it to the final qualifying hurdle of the latter with wins overMartina Suchá andLiezel Huber. She couldn't perform well at the other Grand Slams of theseason. However, she won her first (and eventually, the only) main draw doubles match of a Grand Slam at the2001 Wimbledon Championships, partneringRika Hiraki; the pair had defeatedSilvia Farina Elia andIroda Tulyaganova. She won the last twoITF doubles titles of her career in April 2001; one inHo Chi Minh City (withManisha Malhotra) and one inSarasota, Florida (withMelissa Middleton). The latter of these, being a $75,000 event, is the biggest title of her career.

2002 saw Sanjeev play only a single tournament due to injury, losing in theUS Open qualifying. In 2003, she played exclusively inITF Women's Circuit tournaments. She went into her first retirement from the sport, losing in the second qualifying round of theITF $50,000 tournament inLouisville, Kentucky toPetra Rampre, in late-July 2003.

Sanjeev briefly came back to professional tennis in 2009. Playing in her first match in six years, she beatTamara Čurović before losing toTamarine Tanasugarn in the second round of theITF $50,000NECC–ITF Women's Tennis Championships in November, atPune. Between November 2009 and September 2010, she played in a total of seven ITF tournaments with mixed results. The ITF $25,000 tournament held inRedding, California, would be her last professional tournament in both the disciplines. Her last singles win was againstBrianna Morgan in the final qualifying round, and her final match was a loss in round one againstAmanda McDowell. In doubles, playing withEllen Tsay, she won her first round match againstYawna Allen andBrittany Augustine. Her final doubles match would be a loss in the following round, toMegan Falcon andMacall Harkins.

She represented India at the2010 Commonwealth Games (in October) in Delhi. After defeatingSarah Borwell andAnna Smith (England) in the quarterfinals alongsidePoojashree Venkatesha, they lost toAustralia'sOlivia Rogowska andJessica Moore in the semifinals, thereby sending them into the bronze-medal playoff. Playing againstcompatriotsSania Mirza andRushmi Chakravarthi, they lost in straight sets. In the mixed doubles event, she partneredRohan Bopanna but was defeated in the pre-quarterfinals byAnastasia Rodionova andPaul Hanley (Australia).

Later that same month, Sanjeev went over toGuangzhou to take part in the2010 Asian Games, playing for India. PartneringTara Iyer in women's doubles, she lost in round two to theChinese team ofSun Shengnan andZhang Shuai.

She finally retired during the later 2000s.

For the past five years, Nirupama has been on the expert commentary team along with Indian tennis legendVijay Amritraj for ESPN-STAR sports. Nirupama ran a tennis coaching camp in theBay Area, California until 2024. She launched her autobiographyThe Moonballer in October 2013. Now, She is coaching young players in Florida such as her daughter.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

On 23 May 2002, she married Sanjeev Balakrishnan, a software engineer fromBay Area, California; the brother of the Indian sprinter Rajeev Balakrishnan.^{[citation needed]}

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	15 July 1996	Bilbao, Spain	Clay	Laura Pena	6–1, 4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	2.	2 September 1996	Spoleto, Italy	Clay	Catherine Mothes-Jobkel	5–7, 2–6
Winner	1.	17 November 1996	Bad Gögging, Germany	Carpet (i)	Raluca Sandu	6–4, 6–1
Winner	2.	17 April 2000	New Delhi, India	Carpet	Sai Jayalakshmy Jayaram	6–3, 6–2

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	21 August 1995	Wezel, Belgium	Clay	Olga Hostáková	Ivana Havrlíková Monika Kratochvílová	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	15 April 1996	Gelos, France	Clay	Cara Black	Amélie Mauresmo Isabelle Taesch	7–6(4), 6–3
Winner	2.	28 October 1996	Poitiers, France	Hard (i)	Olga Barabanschikova	Anique Snijders Noëlle van Lottum	6–2, 6–3
Winner	3.	17 November 1996	Bad Gögging, Germany	Carpet (i)	Barbara Schwartz	Kirstin Freye Silke Meier	6–4, 6–1
Winner	4.	30 June 1997	Vaihingen, Germany	Clay	Seda Noorlander	María Fernanda Landa Marlene Weingärtner	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	3 August 1998	Lexington, United States	Hard	Yi Jing-Qian	Amanda Grahame Bryanne Stewart	4–6, 6–1, 3–6
Runner-up	3.	4 October 1999	Albuquerque, United States	Hard	Marion Maruska	Debbie Graham Nana Smith	4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	4.	13 December 1998	New Delhi, India	Hard	Tathiana Garbin	Rika Hiraki Lorna Woodroffe	2–5 ret.
Winner	5.	17 April 2000	New Delhi, India	Carpet	Sai Jayalakshmy Jayaram	Rushmi Chakravarthi Radhika Tulpule	6–4, 6–2
Winner	6.	17 July 2000	Mahwah, United States	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Lisa McShea Irina Selyutina	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	2 October 2000	Albuquerque, United States	Hard	Lisa McShea	Brie Rippner Elena Tatarkova	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	23 October 2000	Dallas, United States	Hard	Nana Smith	Brie Rippner Elena Tatarkova	3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Winner	7.	30 October 2000	Hayward, United States	Hard	Nana Smith	Kelly Liggan Milagros Sequera	4–2 4–2
Winner	8.	6 November 2000	Pittsburgh, United States	Hard (i)	Nana Smith	Seda Noorlander Kirstin Freye	5–7, 6–4, 6–0
Winner	9.	22 April 2001	Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam	Hard	Manisha Malhotra	Leanne Baker Shelley Stephens	6–3, 7–5
Winner	10.	29 April 2001	Sarasota, United States	Clay	Melissa Middleton	Janet Lee Samantha Reeves	6–4, 6–2

• Nirupama Sanjeev at theWomen's Tennis Association
• Nirupama Sanjeev at theInternational Tennis Federation
• Nirupama Sanjeev atOlympedia
• Nirupama Sanjeev at theCommonwealth Games Federation (archived)

• 1976 births
• Living people
• Indian female tennis players
• Olympic tennis players for India
• Tennis players from San Francisco
• Tamil sportspeople
• Tennis players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
• Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Asian Games bronze medalists in tennis
• Tennis players at the 1998 Asian Games
• Tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games
• Tennis players at the 2010 Asian Games
• Sportswomen from Tamil Nadu
• Sportspeople from Coimbatore
• Indian emigrants to the United States
• Asian Games bronze medalists for India
• Asian Games tennis players for India
• Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games
• Commonwealth Games competitors for India
• 21st-century Indian sportswomen

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