Somdev Devvarman's fan boy moment with Jonty Rhodes

Somdev Devvarman and Jonty Rhodes

Former tennis player Somdev Devvarman shared this picture of his recent meeting with his role model and childhood hero - South Africa's ex-cricketer Jonty Rhodes on his social media accounts. "Had the privilege of meeting and chatting with a childhood hero @jontyrhodes8 @covelongpointfestival this weekend. Idolised him for his attitude and his athleticism. The athlete in him was never in question, but I'm glad I was right about the attitude part too. Absolute class. #rolemodel #humbled," Devvarman captioned the photograph.

Somdev Devvarman is a former professional Indian tennis player. He hit the headlines for being the only collegiate player to have made three consecutive finals at the NCAA, winning back-to-back finals in his junior and senior years at the University of Virginia. Only three other players have matched that record since 1950. His 44-1 win-loss record in 2008 at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship is unprecedented.

His best achievement on the ATP World Tour was reaching the final of the Chennai Open in 2009, as a wild card entry. In 2010, Somdev won the gold medal in the men's singles event of XIXth Commonwealth Games at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhi, and he followed it up with both men's singles and doubles gold in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. He was coached by Scott McCain.

In 2011, Devvarman received the Arjuna Award from the Indian government for his tennis successes. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, appointed him as the national observer for tennis. In 2018, he was awarded with the civilian award Padma Shri.

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