Prajnesh Gunneswaran (born 12 November 1989) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He reached a career high ATP singles ranking of No. 75 in 2019. He won 2 ATP Challenger and 8 ITF titles in singles and 1 ITF title in doubles. He represented India at the Davis Cup. At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, he won the bronze medal in the men's singles event.

Personal life

Prajnesh Gunneswaran is the son of Mr. S G Prabhakharan and Mrs. Usha. He married Sudarshana Pai in Ernakulam, Kerala in 2019.

Career

2010–2017: Early career

Gunneswaran mainly participated in ITF and ATP Challenger events in his early years. While he won eight ITF Futures singles titles, he found limited success on the Challenger tour.

In October 2016, he reached his first ATP Challenger singles final at Pune Challenger. He lost the title match to Frenchman Sadio Doumbia. In May 2017, he reached his first ATP Challenger doubles final at 2017 Samarkand Challenger. Partnering with compatriot Vishnu Vardhan, the pair lost the final to team of Laurynas Grigelis and Zdeněk Kolář.

Gunneswaran made his Davis Cup debut for India against Uzbekistan in April 2017.

2018: Two ATP Challenger titles, Asian games Bronze Medal, Indian No. 1

2018 proved to be breakthrough year for Gunneswaran. He reached four ATP Challenger singles finals, winning two of them. He won his first ATP Challenger singles title at the Kunming Open by defeating Mohamed Safwat in the final. In an all-Indian final, he defeated Saketh Myneni at Bengaluru Open to lift his second Challenger singles trophy. He finished as runner-up at the Ningbo Challenger and Pune Challenger. In April he also reached his second ATP Challenger doubles final at Santaizi ATP Challenger in Taipei, where he partnered with Saketh Myneni.

At French Open, Gunneswaran lost in the final qualifying round. Although he was chosen as lucky loser after Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the competition, Gunneswaran could not participate in the main draw event as he had already left Paris before Kyrgios announced his withdrawal, thus failing to debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.

In August, he won the bronze medal in the men's singles tennis event at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. He became the sixth Indian male athlete to win a medal in tennis at the Asian Games.

Gunneswaran started the season as World No. 243 in singles ranking. With solid performance on the Challenger tour he finished the season on a career-high ranking of No. 104 and became the highest ranked Indian singles player.

2019: Grand Slam main draw & top 100 debuts

Gunneswaran started the season by entering the Maharashtra Open, where he received a wildcard into the main draw. He lost in the first round to Michael Mmoh in straight sets.

At the Australian Open, he won the qualifying competition and debuted in the main draw of a Grand Slam event. He lost in the first round in straight sets to Frances Tiafoe.

On 11 February 2019, he reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 97, debuting in the top 100 singles rankings.

Gunneswaran came through the qualifying of the 2019 BNP Paribas Open and defeated Frenchman Benoit Paire in straight sets to enter the second round. He won his second round match against the 17th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili in three sets to make the third round of an ATP 1000 Tournament for the first time in his career. Gunneswaran's run at the Indian Wells Masters came to an end following a straight set defeat to Ivo Karlovic in the third round. This was Gunneswaran's maiden appearance at an ATP Masters event. Next, he qualified for the Miami Open, a back-to-back main draw appearance at a Masters event. He lost in the opening round to Jaume Munar.

In April, Gunneswaran reached his season's first ATP Challenger singles final at the Anning Challenger. He was the defending champion and lost to British player Jay Clarke in the final. As a result, he rose to a career-high singles ranking of No. 75. In July his ranking automatically enabled him entry to the main draw at Wimbledon, where he lost in the first round to Milos Raonic.

He lost to Daniil Medvedev at the 2019 US Open in the first round.

2024: Retirement

In November 2024, Gunneswaran announced his retirement from professional tennis.

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 27 (11–16)

Legend (singles)
Legend (singles) ATP Challenger Tour (2–7) ITF Futures Tour (9–9)Titles by surface Hard (7–14) Clay (4–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)
ATP Challenger Tour (2–7)
ITF Futures Tour (9–9)
Titles by surface
Hard (7–14)
Clay (4–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Jun 2013India F6, ChennaiFuturesHardIndia Vijayant Malik7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win2–0Jul 2013Denmark F2, AarhusFuturesClayNetherlands Colin van Beem6–3, 4–6, 6–0
Loss2–1Sep 2013Egypt F26, Sharm El SheikhFuturesClaySpain Enrique López Pérez0–6, 0–6
Loss2–2Sep 2015India F12, ChennaiFuturesHardIndia Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan6–7(8–10), 4–6
Loss2–3Nov 2015India F16, GwaliorFuturesHardIndia Ramkumar Ramanathan3–6, 4–6
Win3–3Dec 2015India F18, JassowalFuturesHardIndia Ronit Singh Bisht6–4, 6–4
Loss3–4Dec 2015India F19, MumbaiFuturesHardIndia Ramkumar Ramanathan3–6, 3–6
Loss3–5Mar 2016Turkey F9, AntalyaFuturesHardFrance Yannick Jankovits6–7(9–11), 6–4, 3–6
Win4–5Sep 2016India F4, ChennaiFuturesClayIndia Sriram Balaji3–6, 7–5, 7–6(7–3)
Loss4–6Sep 2016India F6, CoimbatoreFuturesHardIndia Sanam Singh3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss4–7Oct 2016Pune, IndiaChallengerHardFrance Sadio Doumbia6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Win5–7Mar 2017India F4, BhilaiFuturesHardIndia Sriram Balaji6–4, 6–2
Loss5–8Mar 2017India F5, BangaloreFuturesHardIndia Sriram Balaji6–2, 3–6, 4–6
Win6–8Mar 2017India F6, TrivandrumFuturesClayIndia Sriram Balaji7–5, 6–3
Win7–8Jul 2017China F10, KunshanFuturesHardChina Li Zhe6–3, 6–1
Loss7–9Jul 2017China F11, ShenzhenFuturesHardChina Zhang Zhizhen6–2, 5–7, 0–5 ret.
Loss7–10Dec 2017Indonesia F8, JakartaFuturesHardSouth Korea Lee Duck-hee3–6, 6–4, 6–7(6–8)
Win8–10Mar 2018India F3, ChandigarhFuturesHardVietnam Lý Hoàng Nam6–3, 6–4
Win9–10Apr 2018Anning, China, P.R.ChallengerClayEgypt Mohamed Safwat5–7, 6–3, 6–1
Loss9–11Oct 2018Ningbo, China, P.R.ChallengerHardItaly Thomas Fabbiano6–7(4–7), 6–4, 3–6
Win10–11Nov 2018Bangalore, IndiaChallengerHardIndia Saketh Myneni6–2, 6–2
Loss10–12Nov 2018Pune, IndiaChallengerHardSweden Elias Ymer2–6, 5–7
Loss10–13Apr 2019Anning, China, P.R.ChallengerClayUnited Kingdom Jay Clarke4–6, 3–6
Loss10–14Nov 2020Cary, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States Denis Kudla6–3, 3–6, 0–6
Loss10–15Nov 2020Orlando, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States Brandon Nakashima3–6, 4–6
Loss10–16Mar 2022Monterrey, MexicoChallengerHardSpain Fernando Verdasco6–4, 3–6, 6–7(3–7)
Win11–16Jan 2023M25, Al Zahra, KuwaitITFHardUzbekistan Khumoyun Sultanov6–2, 7–6(7–5)

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

Legend (doubles)
Legend (doubles) ATP Challenger Tour (0–2) ITF Futures Tour (1–0)Titles by surface Hard (0–1) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–1)
ATP Challenger Tour (0–2)
ITF Futures Tour (1–0)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–1)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Sep 2013Egypt F25, Sharm El SheikhFuturesClayEgypt Issam Haitham TaweelItaly Filippo Borella Russia Aleksandr Ivanovich Spirin6–3, 6–2
Loss1–1May 2017Samarkand, UzbekistanChallengerHardIndia Vishnu VardhanLithuania Laurynas Grigelis Czech Republic Zdeněk Kolář6–7(2–7), 3–6
Loss1–2Apr 2018Taipei, TaiwanChallengerCarpet (i)India Saketh MyneniAustralia Matthew Ebden Australia Andrew Whittington4–6, 7–5, [6–10]

Singles performance timeline

Key
WFSFQF#RRRQ#P#DNQAZ#POGSBNMSNTIPNH

Current through the 2022 Maharashtra Open.

Tournament20122013201420152016201720182019202020212022SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenAAAAAAQ11R1RQ1Q20 / 20–20%
French OpenAAAAAAQ31RQ2Q10 / 10–10%
WimbledonAAAAAAQ11RNHQ10 / 10–10%
US OpenAAAAAQ1A1RAQ20 / 10–10%
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–40–10–00–00 / 50–50%
Year-end championships
ATP FinalsDid not qualify0 / 00–0–
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells MastersAAAAAAA3RNHA0 / 12–167%
Miami OpenAAAAAAA1RNHA0 / 10–10%
Monte-Carlo MastersAAAAAAAANHA0 / 00–0–
Madrid OpenAAAAAAAANHA0 / 00–0–
Italian OpenAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0–
Canadian OpenAAAAAAAANHA0 / 00–0–
Cincinnati MastersAAAAAQ1AAAA0 / 00–0–
Shanghai MastersAAAAAAAANH0 / 00–0–
Paris MastersAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0–
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–02–20–00–00–00 / 22–250%
National representation
Summer OlympicsANot HeldANot HeldA0 / 00–0–
Davis CupAAAAAZ1POQRQRA0 / 02–529%
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–01–11–10–210–11–10–00 / 03–633%
Career statistics
Titles / Finals0 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 00 / 0
Overall win–loss0–00–00–00–00–01–12–55–141–41–20–110–2728%
Year-end ranking8994841400T484320243110124129219347$701,151

Wins over top 20 players

Season2019Total
Wins11
#PlayerRankEventSurfaceRdScorePG Rank
2019
1.Georgia (country) Nikoloz Basilashvili18Indian Wells Masters, USAHard2nd6–4, 6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–4)97

External links