Ashutosh brings first national title in family

By winning the national title, Ashutosh Singh carried forward the family tradition of excellence on the tennis court but his latest feat is something which nobody in the clan had achieved before.

"It means a lot emotionally. It brought happiness for my coaches, trainers but I think, it came as a relief to my family as it was one title that no one in my family had won.

"My father was in the Davis Cup squad, my uncles won international tournaments, my sister was junior national champion and also in the Fed Cup team but no one had won a senior national title, so this title brought relief," Ashutosh Singh told PTI in an interview.

Son of Balram Singh, who was coach of the Indian team in the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing where Leander Paes won a bronze medal, Ashutosh said he could see relief in his father's eyes when he won the title at the DLTA complex.

"He did not say much when he heard that I have won, but I could see his eyes, there was a relief. He was waiting for this for a long time.

When asked why it took so long to bag the title, the 25-year-old Ashutosh said, "Yes, I took my own time to settle in the sport. Despite the fact that my father was a coach I could not train under him."