In the course of her diligent dash up the global lawn tennis ranking charts, Dempo Goodwill Ambassador Natasha Palha entered four US$25000 tournaments across Australia during March 2016, of which the best-ever performance she notched up was entering the Women’s Doubles semi-finals of the US25000 ITF tournament at Mildura, a city on the River Murray in the north-west of the state of Victoria.
Partnering Natasha was Yuki Kristina Chiang of the USA, with Australian Noel Callaghan coaching them through the Australian sojourn (photographs show the trio at the end of a hard day’s training). The hard work propelled the goodwill ambassador 44 places up the WTA rankings from #466 to #422.
Natasha found the singles in the tourneys tough going, although she made it to the final qualifying rounds at each of the competitions. As a worthy Dempo ambassador, she evidently sets the bar higher for herself, preferring to play higher-rated (US$25000) tournaments to gauge the playing level of the Opposition, thereby aiming to achieve the desired level, rather than scoring with lower-rated, easier-to-win contests suited to her current level!
