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Play more, grow stronger: Teen Maaya’s mantra for the pro grind
16-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi is gearing up for the Australian Open juniors after a busy season, aiming to gain more pro experience and improve.
Mumbai: At age 16 and in class 10, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi is already getting a little taste of the pro tennis life.
In the last three months of 2025, Maaya played eight tournaments – four juniors and four women’s – apart from rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s top pros at the World Tennis League. She only has a couple of weeks at home to rest and rebound for her 2026 season opener: the Australian Open juniors, starting later this month.
“I’ve been travelling for a while, so these two weeks are all I have to recover and train again for Australia,” Maaya said over phone.
She wasn’t in Melbourne last year, but was in Mumbai soon after the season-opening Grand Slam had ended. That’s when this city, and indeed the tennis world, got a glimpse of the promise the teen from Coimbatore carries. As an unranked, wildcard qualifier, Maaya waltzed to the singles semi-finals of the WTA 125 event and leapfrogged into the 600s of the WTA rankings.
In a breakthrough season defined by that early burst in a top-tier WTA event in Mumbai, it’s the bustling back-end plying at junior and lower-level ITF tournaments in cities like Solapur that Maaya however relished more.
“I felt like I didn’t compete as much in mid-2025. The last three months I’ve been playing and travelling a lot more, which I’ve really liked because I’ve been wanting to compete more. Just to get a feel of how it’s like in the pros,” she said. “When you’re on the road for a long time, staying fit is not easy. These past few months have taught me a lot in that regard.”
A lot of young Indians often bump into physical breakdowns through the step up from juniors to pros. The junior world No.40 and WTA 643 is keen to avoid that by continuing to add miles to the legs.
It’s an aspect repeatedly hammered into her head by her coaches at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca where Maaya checked in last year as a scouted trainee.
“Everyone’s tone there right now is to try and make me a better player and grow stronger,” she said. “Because I’m still 16, I need to develop fully and compete more and gain more experience. So, for now, everyone just wants me to play more tournaments and grow stronger.”
Maaya singled out the last bit more than any aspect of her baseline-aggressive game as a key difference from before and after her time in the Spanish town. She dabbled in both junior and ITF circuits last season, winning two girls’ titles while also playing (and losing) a fair share of women’s matches. Yet, she felt she got stronger along the way, physically and mentally.
“At the start it felt pretty different for me because I hadn’t played these many matches (at a stretch). There were some matches where I felt a bit tired and didn’t realise why. I later realised what works for me. I’m still learning, and I’ll find a way.
“More than that, I learnt a lot about handling the tough moments mentally. And that when you lose, you still have to be back next week.”
After her dream run in early 2025, the teen was awakened to the reality of early exits. In her next appearance in India after the Mumbai mania, Maaya lost in the first round of WTA 250 Chennai Open to Shrivalli Bhamidipaty in October.
Motivation to get back on court a day after tough defeats, Maaya admitted, can be hard to extract. That’s where the Nadal academy coaches, her parents and the tour grind play their roles.
“The amount of matches I’m playing is also helping me gain a lot of experience in growing, in that handling losses better than the previous one,” she said.
Maaya hopes this season too will be about playing more and growing more. Her priorities will slightly shift towards the pro circuit even while turning up for “higher level” junior events. Like the season-opening junior Slam in Australia. Last year, she exited from the singles first round of the French Open and from the second at Wimbledon and US Open.
“Going farther in Australia will be nice,” she said.
