Shikha Uberoi


Shikha Devi Uberoi is a former Indian-American professional tennis player and a former Indian No. 1. After Nirupama Sanjeev, she is the second Indian female player in history to crack the top 200 WTA rankings, as well as the second to feature and win a round at a Grand Slam tournament.

Biography

Shikha was born to father Mahesh and mother Madhu in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Her family moved to Princeton, New Jersey when she was an infant. She has one older sister and three younger sisters. Her four sisters are also tennis players, but of all, Shikha is by far the most successful, and the only one to represent India.
She was named the Zee Astitva Athlete of the Year 2007. She was one of the top-10 fastest servers in the world. She earned her bachelor's degree from Princeton University in Anthropology and South Asian Studies. She graduated with high academic standing while winning Princeton's prestigious Kit Harris Memorial Award for Leadership and Ethics.
Shikha launched her media and lifestyle company, SDU Seva, Inc. As of 2013, she is currently creating and producing international social issue television shows, and is a social entrepreneur. She speaks internationally at various diplomatic conferences on female empowerment through sport. She has recently been invited to sit on the board of directors of the World Economic Forum's "Global Shapers Initiative" for Bhopal. She is also a news and sports presenter and coaches all levels of tennis and fitness.

Tennis career

Uberoi started competing in the ITF Women's Circuit in 1998. In August 2002, she played in her first WTA-level tournament as a wildcard at the Pilot Pen Open in New Haven, during the 2002 season. She lost her opening qualifying match to Elena Bovina. She would next compete in a WTA tournament an year later in March 2003, at the Sarasota Clay Court Classic, again losing in the first qualifying round to Tara Snyder. The highlight of 2003 would be her winning her first title in August, where she won the ITF $10,000 tournament in Harrisonburg, Virginia, with five match wins. Later that same year in November, she lost in first qualifying round of the Advanta Championships of Philadelphia to Anikó Kapros.
Uberoi won her first WTA-level match in 2004, albeit at the qualifying level. She defeated Liza Viplav and Aiko Nakamura, before losing to sister Neha in the qualifying finals of the Hyderabad Open. Two weeks later, she lost in the qualifying first round at the Qatar Ladies Open to Li Ting. Uberoi finally got to compete in the main draw of a professional-level tournament at the Budapest Grand Prix, with qualifying wins over Christiane Hoppmann, Cristina Torrens Valero, and Edina Gallovits; she would lose the round one encounter to Marion Bartoli later in the tournament.
At the 2004 US Open, Uberoi was competing in her first ever Grand Slam tournament as a wildcard into the qualifying draw. Win three wins over Ivana Abramović, Anne Kremer, and Vilmarie Castellvi, she successfully entered the main draw. She became the second ever Indian female player in the modern era to feature and win a round at a main draw Grand Slam Tournament, defeating Japan's Saori Obata in the first round. She lost to Venus Williams in round two, having led 4–1 in the first set against the multiple Grand Slam champion. During the 2004 season, Shikha won two further ITF singles titles in Fort Worth and Edmond.
During the Australian swing at the beginning of the 2005 WTA Tour, Uberoi lost in the qualifying stages of the Uncle Tobys Hardcourts, the Moorilla Hobart International, and the Australian Open, losing to Yan Zi, Sunitha Rao, and Teryn Ashley, respectively. However, in early February, she won against Olga Savchuk, Yuan Meng, and Tatiana Poutchek back to back to make the main draw of the Volvo Women's Open in Thailand, but lost to Conchita Martinez in round one. The following week, she received direct entry into the main draw of a WTA event for the first time, although she lost her opening match to Melinda Czink in three tight sets. She had somewhat of a decent form at the Indian Wells Masters in March, with solid wins over Saori Obata, Ekaterina Bychkova, and Akiko Morigami. But, she lost her opening qualifying matches to Aiko Nakamura and Angela Haynes at Miami and Charleston, respectively. In May 2005, she lost in the first round of the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem to Yan Zi, and also failed to qualify for both the Rome Masters and Roland Garros. Uberoi also had poor form on the grass court tournaments, failing to qualify at the DFS Classic, as well as Wimbledon. During the North American hard court swing, she only managed to compete in one main draw match, losing to Dally Randriantefy at the Canadian Open. The highlight of her 2005 season was reaching the quarterfinals of the WTA Sunfeast Open in Kolkata. Also in 2005, Shikha reached 2 WTA doubles finals partnering sister Neha, one in Kolkata and one in Guangzhou.
In 2006, Uberoi qualified for the Qatar Ladies Open, but lost to Maria Vento-Kabchi in the first round. She would not have any significant results until the Estoril Open in May, where she won three matches, only to lose to Maret Ani in the first round. The only other WTA tournament she competed in that year was the Japan Open, where she was defeated by Vera Dushevina. She did represent India at the 2006 Asian Games where she defeated Linda Ahmad of Bahrain in round one, but lost in the second round to Zheng Jie of China.
In January 2007, Uberoi was the doubles finalist at the ASB Classic in Auckland, partnering Su-Wei Hsieh. Being awarded a wildcard into the Sony Ericsson International, she lost to Agnes Szavay. This would be the last time she would compete in a WTA main draw. Following this, Uberoi had limited success on the ITF Women's Circuit, playing irregularly until mid-2011. Her last singles win was in the qualifying draw of the ITF $50,000 tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, in late July 2010, against He Chun-yan. She played her final singles match in the next tournament she participated in, an year later, at the same tournament in July 2011, losing to Amanda Fink in the first qualifying round. In doubles, at the same Lexington tournament in 2011, she paired with Jennifer Elie to win her final match, before losing in the quarterfinals. Since then, Uberoi has competed in one last doubles tournament; the ITF $25,000 in Mumbai in November 2014, where she and partner Rishika Sunkara lost their opening match.

Career statistics

WTA Tour Finals

Doubles (0–3)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponents in the finalScore in final
Runner-up1.25 September 2005Sunfeast Open, Kolkata, IndiaHard Neha Uberoi Elena Likhovtseva
Anastasia Myskina		6–1, 6–0
Runner-up2.2 October 2005Guangzhou Open, ChinaHard Neha Uberoi Maria Elena Camerin
Emmanuelle Gagliardi		7–6, 6–3
Runner-up3.7 January 2007Auckland Open, New ZealandHard Hsieh Su-wei Janette Husárová
Paola Suárez		6–0, 6–2

ITF finals (6-3)

Singles (3–0)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Winner1.3 August 2003Harrisonburg, United StatesHard Meghha Vakaria6–1, 6–1
Winner2.20 June 2004Fort Worth, United StatesHard Neha Uberoi6–1, 6–2
Winner3.27 June 2004Edmond, United StatesHard Anne Mall6–2, 6–4

Doubles (3–3)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Winner1.21 February 2000Victoria, MexicoHard Brandi Freudenberg Maria Eugenia Brito
Alejandra Rivero		6–1, 6–1
Runner-up1.20 June 2004Fort Worth, United StatesHard Neha Uberoi Vania King
Anne Mall		6–2, 3–6, 6–7
Runner-up2.21 June 2008Houston, United StatesHard Kim-Anh Nguyen Catrina Thompson
Christian Thompson		3–6, 5–7
Winner2.14 June 2009El Paso, United StatesHard Christina Fusano Maria-Fernanda Alves
Tetiana Luzhanska		6–3, 7–5
Runner-up3.26 June 2011Cleveland, United StatesClay Dianne Hollands Brooke Austin
Brooke Bolender		6–7, 3–6
Winner3.3 July 2011Buffalo, United StatesClay Dianne Hollands Paulina Bigos
Brittany Wowchuk		7–5, 6–4