Ankita Raina

Ankita Raina

Raina at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships
Full name	Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina
Country (sports)	India
Residence	Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Born	(1993-01-11) 11 January 1993 Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Turned pro	May 2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$354,765
Singles
Career record	270–220 (55.1%)
Career titles	11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 160 (2 March 2020)
Current ranking	No. 180 (14 December 2020)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q3 (2021)
French Open	Q2 (2020)
Wimbledon	Q2 (2018, 2019)
US Open	Q2 (2019)
Doubles
Career record	200–167 (54.5%)
Career titles	1 WTA 125K, 18 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 117 (14 December 2020)
Current ranking	No. 117 (14 December 2020)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	23–17 (57.5%)
Medal record Representing India Women's tennis Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Women's Singles
Last updated on: 14 September 2020.

Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina (born 11 January 1993) is an Indian professional tennis player and the current Indian No. 1 in both women’s singles (since 2013) and doubles (since 2019).

Raina has won one WTA 125k title in doubles, along with 11 singles and 18 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In April 2018, she entered the top 200 singles rankings for the first time, becoming only the fifth player representing India to achieve this feat. Raina has also won gold medals in the women's singles and mixed-doubles events at the 2016 South Asian Games, and won a bronze medal in singles at the 2018 Asian Games.

Playing for India in Fed Cup, Raina has a win/loss record of 23–17. She has notable wins over Zhu Lin (CHN) and Yulia Putintseva (KAZ), both at the 2018 Fed Cup.

Personal life

Raina was born in the western Indian state of Gujarat to a Kashmiri Pandit family. Her middle-class Hindu family hails from the town of Tral in Pulwama district, Kashmir. Her family left Kashmir in the early 1990s during the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, due to the ongoing insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. Raina is fluent in Hindi, Gujarati, and English. Raina briefly studied at Brihan Maharashtra.

At the national events, Raina has represented her home state Gujarat. Her idols growing up were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Sania Mirza.

Raina trains at the Hemant Bendrey Tennis Academy at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana in Pune. Previously coached by Hemant Bendrey, she is now coached by Arjun Kadhe, who is also her trainer and hitting partner.

Career

Raina playing in the qualifying competition of the 2018 French Open – her first Grand Slam tournament.

Raina started playing tennis at the age of five. Following a promising junior career, Raina made her first professional appearance in 2009, at a small ITF tournament in Mumbai. In 2010, she continued to participate in local ITF events with limited success. Raina's 2011 season saw her advance to three ITF circuit finals in doubles, winning one with countrywoman Aishwarya Agrawal. In 2012, she won her first professional singles title in New Delhi and won three more in doubles. This was followed by a few years of mediocre results on the ITF Circuit.

Raina won two matches at the 2017 Mumbai Open, advancing to the biggest quarterfinal of her career. This would turn out to be her breakthrough tournament. In April 2018, she reached a ranking of world No. 181, after winning a $25k title, becoming the fifth Indian national to crack to the top-200 ladies singles rankings, following Nirupama Sanjeev, Sania Mirza, Shikha Uberoi, and Sunitha Rao.

In August 2018, Ankita won the bronze medal in the Asian Games at Jakarta, Indonesia in singles event. Raina and Sania Mirza are the only players representing India to have won a singles medal at the Asian Games.

Following a loss at the 2019 Australian Open, Raina won the ITF W25 title in Singapore, win a solid win over Arantxa Rus in the final. At the 2019 Kunming Open, Raina got her first top-100 win, defeating Samantha Stosur, former US Open champion and top-10 player, scoring the biggest win of her career. At the 2019 French Open, Raina lost her first qualifying match to well-known American youngster Coco Gauff in two tight sets, despite playing well. She went on to reach the second qualifying rounds of both the 2019 Wimbledon Championships and the 2019 US Open, losing tight 3-setters in both tournaments. In October 2019, Raina entered the top 150 doubles rankings for the first time, after reaching the finals of the 2019 Suzhou Ladies Open with partner Rosalie van der Hoek.

Raina had a disappointing result at the 2020 Australian Open, albeit she was unwell due to the Australian bushfires. However, Raina found further doubles success by winning two back-to-back ITF titles in Nonthaburi alongside Bibiane Schoofs; followed by reaching her first WTA Tour semifinal at the 2020 Thailand Open alongside Rosalie. This gave Raina a new career-high raking of No. 119 in doubles. She also won two singles titles early on in 2020, one in Nonthaburi, and the other in Jodhpur, India. Raina then helped India advance to the Fed Cup World Group 2 playoffs for the first time in history in April 2020 in Dubai, along with Sania Mirza, Rutuja Bhosale, Riya Bhatia and Sowjanya Bavisetti. In the Fed Cup, Raina had put up a good fight and won the first set 6–1 against China's top player Wang Qiang, but lost the match in three tight sets.

Raina returned to competition at the resumption of the tour in September but suffered early exits in ITF tournaments. She then competed at the 2020 French Open where she advanced to the second qualifying round for the first time but lost to Kurumi Nara. In December 2020, Raina won the biggest ITF doubles title of her career at the 2020 Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge held in Dubai, alongside Ekaterine Gorgodze; subsequently, she reached a new career high doubles ranking of No. 117.

Playing style

Raina won the gold medal in singles at the 2016 South Asian Games.

Raina is a steady baseliner who primarily relies on her speed and counterpunching abilities to outlast her opponents. She hits with plenty of topspin on both her forehand and backhand, and can hit in all directions comfortably. She also uses the backhand slice quite often, as a way of varying the pattern of a rally. Raina is comfortable with volleying (including drive volleying), and approaches the net whenever she gets her opponent running or out of position. She doesn't use the drop shot or lob too frequently, but brings them out as a surprise tactic. Raina's biggest strength is her baseline consistency. She can stay toe-to-toe with most players from the back of the court, and can get a majority of shots back in play. Raina has a solid first serve, but it is her second serve that gives her an advantage at the start of a point. She can hit a good kick serve, which opens up the court for an easy putaway. Raina also has a good return of serve, and is capable of neutralizing most big serves by sending them back with precision. She is also quite efficient at the net, and can take the attack to the opponent on fast courts with her purposeful volleys. Raina's biggest weakness is the lack of firepower on her groundstrokes. She can't match the raw muscle strength of the top players, and so is frequently in danger of getting blown off the court. Recently, she has been moving a lot better on the court as well. Raina's preferred surfaces are grass and hard court, as they are more suited to her game style; with clay being her weakest surface.

Sponsorship and equipment

In her junior years, Raina was helped by Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals to participate in overseas junior tournaments. Since then, she has been supported by Bharat Forge and Lakshya. Most recently, Raina has signed sponsorship deals with the Sports Authority of Gujarat and Yonex, and she is officially employed with ONGC. Hence, Raina uses Yonex racquets and clothing. Adani Group is her current supporter.

In 2013, Raina met Narendra Modi, India's then-future prime minister, and officially was recognised under the Shaktidhoot scheme and hence became a part of India's goal of reaching Olympic podiums.

WTA 125K series finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2018	Taipei Open, Taiwan	Carpet	Karman Thandi	Olga Doroshina Natela Dzalamidze	6–3, 5–7, [12–12] ret.

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 21 (11 titles, 10 runner–ups)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $80,000 tournaments $60,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (10–8) Clay (1–1) Grass (0–1) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Apr 2012	ITF Fujairah, United Arab Emirates	10,000	Hard	Fatma Al-Nabhani	3–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	Jun 2012	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Prerna Bhambri	6–4, 6–2
Loss	1–2	Jul 2012	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Miyabi Inoue	2–6, 2–6
Loss	1–3	Mar 2013	ITF Hyderabad, India	10,000	Hard	Bárbara Luz	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(3–7)
Loss	1–4	Mar 2013	ITF Hyderabad, India	10,000	Hard	Bárbara Luz	6–2, 3–6, 1–6
Win	2–4	Apr 2013	ITF Chennai, India	10,000	Clay	Natasha Palha	6–3, 6–1
Loss	2–5	Apr 2013	ITF Lucknow, India	10,000	Grass	Emi Mutaguchi	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 1–6
Loss	2–6	Jun 2013	ITF Qarshi, Uzbekistan	25,000	Hard	Sabina Sharipova	3–6, 3–6
Win	3–6	Jun 2013	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Eetee Maheta	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–6	Jul 2013	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Kanika Vaidya	6–4, 6–4
Loss	4–7	May 2014	ITF Balikpapan, Indonesia	25,000	Clay	Zhu Lin	5–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win	5–7	Dec 2014	Pune Championships, India	25,000	Hard	Katy Dunne	6–2, 6–2
Loss	5–8	Apr 2015	ITF Ahmedabad, India	25,000	Hard	Anastasija Sevastova	4–6, 6–7(5–7)
Loss	5–9	May 2017	Jin'an Open, China	60,000	Hard	Zhu Lin	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win	6–9	Mar 2018	ITF Gwalior, India	25,000	Hard	Amandine Hesse	6–2, 7–5
Win	7–9	Jul 2018	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Risa Ozaki	6–2, 6–3
Win	8–9	Jan 2019	ITF Singapore	25,000	Hard	Arantxa Rus	6–3, 6–2
Loss	8–10	Apr 2019	Lale Cup, Turkey	60,000	Hard	Vitalia Diatchenko	4–6, 0–6
Win	9–10	Dec 2019	ITF Solapur, India	25,000	Hard	Naiktha Bains	6–3, 6–3
Win	10–10	Jan 2020	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Chloé Paquet	6–3, 7–5
Win	11–10	Feb 2020	ITF Jodhpur, India	25,000	Hard	Berfu Cengiz	7–5, 6–1

Doubles: 31 (18 titles, 13 runner–ups)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $80,000 tournaments $50,000/$60,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (14–8) Clay (3–4) Grass (1–1) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2011	ITF Kolkata, India	10,000	Clay	Poojashree Venkatesha	Nicole Clerico Dalila Jakupovič	3–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Apr 2011	ITF Lucknow, India	10,000	Grass	Aishwarya Agrawal	Anja Prislan Kyra Shroff	3–6, 3–6
Win	1–2	May 2011	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Aishwarya Agrawal	Fatma Al-Nabhani Rushmi Chakravarthi	6–4, 6–3
Win	2–2	May 2012	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Rushmi Chakravarthi	Liu Yuxuan Zhao Qianqian	6–1, 6–4
Win	3–2	May 2012	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Rushmi Chakravarthi	Sri Peddy Reddy Prarthana Thombare	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–2	Jun 2012	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Aishwarya Agrawal	Ester Masuri Naomi Totka	6–1, 6–4
Loss	4–3	Apr 2013	ITF Chennai, India	10,000	Clay	Rushmi Chakravarthi	Natasha Palha Prarthana Thombare	7–5, 3–6, [6–10]
Loss	4–4	Jul 2013	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Shweta Rana	Sharmada Balu Sowjanya Bavisetti	2–6, 4–6
Win	5–4	Jan 2014	ITF Aurangabad, India	10,000	Clay	Prarthana Thombare	Shweta Rana Rishika Sunkara	6–3, 6–3
Loss	5–5	May 2014	ITF Tianjin, China	25,000	Hard	Fatma Al-Nabhani	Liu Chang Ran Tian	1–6, 5–7
Win	6–5	Nov 2014	ITF Mumbai, India	25,000	Hard	Lu Jiajing	Nicha Lertpitaksinchai Peangtarn Plipuech	6–4, 1–6, [11–9]
Win	7–5	Dec 2014	ITF Lucknow, India	15,000	Grass	Emily Webley-Smith	Rushmi Chakravarthi Nidhi Chilumula	6–2, 6–4
Loss	7–6	Aug 2015	ITF Westende, Belgium	25,000	Hard	Alyona Sotnikova	Indy de Vroome Lesley Kerkhove	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Loss	7–7	Jun 2016	Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan	25,000	Hard	Prerna Bhambri	Polina Monova Yana Sizikova	6–7(0–7), 2–6
Win	8–7	Sep 2016	Zhuhai Open, China	50,000	Hard	Emily Webley-Smith	Guo Hanyu Jiang Xinyu	6–4, 6–4
Win	9–7	Apr 2017	ITF Pula, Italy	25,000	Clay	Eva Wacanno	Irene Burillo Escorihuela Yvonne Cavallé Reimers	6–4, 6–4
Win	10–7	May 2017	ITF Hua Hin, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Emily Webley-Smith	Nudnida Luangnam Zhang Yukun	6–2, 6–0
Win	11–7	Aug 2017	ITF Koksijde, Belgium	25,000	Clay	Bibiane Schoofs	Marie Benoît Magali Kempen	3–6, 6–3, [11–9]
Loss	11–8	Aug 2017	ITF Leipzig, Germany	25,000	Clay	Tereza Mrdeža	Valentyna Ivakhnenko Lidziya Marozava	2–6, 1–6
Win	12–8	Aug 2017	Mençuna Cup, Turkey	60,000	Hard	Gabriela Cé	Elitsa Kostova Yana Sizikova	6–2, 6–3
Win	13–8	May 2018	Jin'an Open, China	60,000	Hard	Harriet Dart	Liu Fangzhou Xun Fangying	6–3, 6–3
Win	14–8	Nov 2018	ITF Pune, India	25,000	Hard	Karman Thandi	Aleksandrina Naydenova Tamara Zidanšek	6–2, 6–7(5–7), [11–9]
Loss	14–9	Jul 2019	Reinert Open, Germany	60,000	Clay	Bibiane Schoofs	Amina Anshba Anastasia Dețiuc	6–0, 3–6, [8–10]
Loss	14–10	Aug 2019	Pro-Series Foxhills, United Kingdom	25,000	Hard	Naiktha Bains	Sarah Beth Grey Eden Silva	2–6, 5–7
Loss	14–11	Oct 2019	Suzhou Open, China	100,000	Hard	Rosalie van der Hoek	Jiang Xinyu Tang Qianhui	6–3, 3–6, [5–10]
Loss	14–12	Nov 2019	Liuzhou Open, China	60,000	Hard	Rosalie van der Hoek	Jiang Xinyu Tang Qianhui	4–6, 4–6
Win	15–12	Dec 2019	ITF Solapur, India	25,000	Hard	Ulrikke Eikeri	Berfu Cengiz Despina Papamichail	5–7, 6–4, [10–3]
Win	16–12	Jan 2020	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Bibiane Schoofs	Supapitch Kuearum Mananchaya Sawangkaew	6–4, 6–2
Win	17–12	Jan 2020	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Bibiane Schoofs	Miyabi Inoue Kang Jiaqi	6–2, 3–6, [10–7]
Loss	17–13	Feb 2020	ITF Jodhpur, India	25,000	Hard	Snehal Mane	Rutuja Bhosale Miyabi Inoue	6–4, 4–6, [8–10]
Win	18–13	Dec 2020	Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, U.A.E.	100,000	Hard	Ekaterine Gorgodze	Aliona Bolsova Kaja Juvan	6–4, 3–6, [10–6]

Fed Cup participation

Singles

Edition	Stage	Date	Location	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Score
2014 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	5 February 2014	Astana, Kazakhstan	Pakistan	Hard (i)	Sara Mansoor	W	6–1, 6–2
		6 February 2014		New Zealand		Marina Erakovic	L	1–6, 2–6
	P/O	7 February 2014		Hong Kong		Zhang Ling	L	3–6, 4–6
2015 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	R/R	15 April 2015	Hyderabad, India	Pakistan	Hard	Ushna Suhail	W	6–0, 6–1
		16 April 2015		Malaysia		Jawairiah Noordin	W	6–1, 3–6, 6–4
	P/O	17 April 2015		Turkmenistan		Anastasiya Prenko	W	6–1, 6–2
2016 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I	R/R	3 February 2016	Hua Hin, Thailand	Thailand	Hard	Luksika Kumkhum	L	6–7(5–7), 3–6
		4 February 2016		Japan		Nao Hibino	W	6–3, 6–1
		5 February 2016		Uzbekistan		Nigina Abduraimova	W	6–1, 6–0
2017 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I	R/R	8 February 2017	Astana, Kazakhstan	Japan	Hard (i)	Misaki Doi	L	0–6, 3–6
		9 February 2017		China		Zhu Lin	L	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
		10 February 2017		Philippines		Katharina Lehnert	L	3–6, 4–6
2018 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I	R/R	7 February 2018	New Delhi, India	China	Hard	Zhu Lin	W	6–3, 6–2
		8 February 2018		Kazakhstan		Yulia Putintseva	W	6–3, 1–6, 6–4
		9 February 2018		Hong Kong		Zhang Ling	W	6–3, 6–2
	P/O	10 February 2018		Chinese Taipei		Hsu Chieh-yu	W	6–4, 5–7, 6–1
2019 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I	R/R	7 February 2019	Astana, Kazakhstan	Thailand	Hard (i)	Peangtarn Plipuech	W	6–7(3–7), 6–2, 6–4
		8 February 2019		Kazakhstan		Yulia Putintseva	L	1–6, 6–7(4–7)
	P/O	9 February 2019		South Korea		Jeong Su-nam	W	6–3, 6–3

Doubles

Edition	Stage	Date	Location	Against	Surface	Partner	Opponents	W/L	Score
2013 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I	R/R	6 February 2013	Astana, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	Hard (i)	Rutuja Bhosale	Sesil Karatantcheva Galina Voskoboeva	L	3–6, 1–6
		8 February 2013		Thailand		Rishika Sunkara	Noppawan Lertcheewakarn Varatchaya Wongteanchai	L	1–6, 3–6
2014 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II	P/O	7 February 2014		Hong Kong		Rishika Sunkara	Ng Kwan-yau Wu Ho-ching	W	6–2, 6–1
2019 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group I	R/R	7 February 2019	Astana, Kazakhstan	Thailand	Hard (i)	Karman Thandi	Nudnida Luangnam Peangtarn Plipuech	W	6–4, 6–7(6–8), 7–5
	P/O	9 February 2019	Astana, Kazakhstan	South Korea	Hard (i)	Prarthana Thombare	Jang Su-jeong Kim Na-ri	L	4–6, 4–6

Asian Games

Singles (bronze medal)

Medal	Date	Tournament	Location	Opponent	Score
Bronze	August 2018	2018 Asian Games	Jakarta, Indonesia	Zhang Shuai	4–6, 6–7(6–8)

External links

• Ankita Raina at the Women's Tennis Association
• Ankita Raina at the International Tennis Federation
• Ankita Raina at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Ankita Raina, Profile tennislive