When the question is posed of which player, among Sri Lankan Tennis' factory line of emerging stars, is the brightest prospect for the future, the answer almost always ends with the name Dineshkanthan Thangarajah. Over the years the nineteen-year-old has progressively strengthened his arsenal of strokes and on-court temperament, helping him garner numerous victories as well as a national reputation as a gifted and gritty baseliner.

Dineshkanthan Thangarajah

First motivated to play the game by his two brothers when he was seven, Dineshkanthan eventually decided to try out for a spot on his school's (St. Michael's College, Batticaloa) Tennis team. Accomplishing this, he continued to work diligently until his game had reached a juncture where it grabbed the attention of St. Peter's College coach Dinith Pathiraja, who asked the school to provide the youngster with a scholarship.

From that time Dineshkanthan has been under the learned gaze of Pathiraja, who has shepherded the youngster from a raw talent in his school team to an extremely capable partner for Harshana Godamanne in Davis Cup competition.

On his way to this envious position he has bagged numerous titles and accomplishments, most coming from a stellar junior Tennis career that saw him annex the Junior National Championship from 2001 until 2009. This year, competing in the Senior National Championships, Dineshkanthan went all the way to the finals before losing out to Godamanne, the country's top ranked player.

His first taste of international competition came in 2006, when he represented Sri Lanka in the Junior Davis Cup in Malaysia and from that point he has been a regular member of the Senior National Team, competing in Davis Cup encounters against New Zealand and Canada.

Most recently at the Commonwealth Games, he partnered with Amresh Jayawickrema to match the might of the battle hardened grand slam winning duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, who predictably cruised to a straight sets victory.

Attaining this success had demanded a great amount of hard work and dedication, and furthering his progress will require even more. However this does not trouble the skilled teenager and he has already adapted to the rigors of his testing training routine.

"I train for six days of the week basically and my workout is split into two parts. I do about an hour of fitness training before then going and playing for about two hours," Dineshkanthan explains.
The youth from Batticaloa however does see a few flaws in his game that he admits he needs to work past if he is to see even better results.

"Right now my game is played mainly from the baseline and I want to work on this by improving my serving and volleying and becoming less predictable," he acknowledges.

Like his idols Nadal and Federer, Dineshkanthan strives to earn an opportunity to play top flight Tennis, nevertheless he states he first aspires to win his first national championship, a feat made extremely difficult because it will almost certainly mean going past the strong and experienced Godamanne.

He says though that with Tennis, improvement comes through enjoyment of the game, and this is something he constantly gives priority to and urges other young players to do too. "Just go out there and have fun, because at the end of the day it is a very entertaining sport to play."