For a person who has pulled off victories in opposition to three of the world’s high 30 paddlers over the past two weeks in World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender tournaments, Harmeet Desai is notably measured in his elation. On the uncommon events he grants himself a verbal pat on the again, one sentence sums up the 29-year-old’s worldwide desk tennis profession so far: “It feels good that after so many years of hard work, it is now starting to bear fruit.”

One that has by no means tasted sweeter. After years of stepping up for the Indian crew in multi-sport occasions but largely flying beneath the radar individually, Desai strung collectively his finest singles run on the elite stage in spectacular style.

Coming via the qualifying rounds on the WTT Contender Lagos a fortnight in the past, Desai, then ranked world No.134, took out world No.12 and high seed Jang Woo-jin of South Korea 3-0 within the Round of 16. A shocking one-off? Not fairly. Desai went on to beat Twenty sixth-ranked Chinese Xiang Peng 3-1 within the quarterfinals, reserving his first semi-final in a WTT tour occasion and scripting Indian desk tennis’ standout consequence in males’s singles to date this 12 months.

Not fairly a surprising on-off match both. Now ranked 77, Desai returned to his giant-killing methods within the WTT Contender Tunis, beating world No.11 Lim Jong-hoon of South Korea 3-2 within the Round of 32 on Thursday earlier than exiting within the subsequent spherical.

“The form has been great this month,” Desai stated from Zagreb, the place he’ll play his third Contender occasion in as many weeks. “I’m very happy with how I’ve been playing; it’s a big morale-booster. It gives me the confirmation that I’m on the right track.”

It took some time to assemble such momentum. Rated as one of many brightest prospects as a junior —the Surat-born paddler had received the U-21 Brazil Open singles title in 2012 — Desai’s senior profession was a extra muted experience even because the evergreen Sharath Kamal and a rising G Sathiyan remained the spotlight-grabbing pace-setters.

Not that Desai wasn’t working an excellent race himself. Part of the lads’s crew that received each the 2018 Asian Games bronze and Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold, Desai received his first senior nationwide singles title in 2019. He performed an important function within the crew defending its CWG gold in Birmingham final 12 months. In the ultimate in opposition to Singapore that India received 3-1, Desai’s singles victory (he additionally performed doubles) in opposition to Clarence Chew proved vital after Sharath had misplaced to the identical participant. However, so far as private achievements on the worldwide circuit go — like of the final two weeks — it took a while coming. And it did take a look at his persistence.

“Initially, it would disturb me quite a lot,” Desai stated. “But there came a point when I stopped focusing on results. Sometimes, it takes time, and I accepted that. You have to be patient. That way, I’m a lot more mature now, a lot calmer. My focus turned to improving my game and trusting the process and not about when the results would turn my way. Again, this only shows that persistently if you work hard, sooner or later results will come.”

Mindset change can also be a significant cause behind his current victories. Working with a psychological conditioning coach, Desai now maintains a diary through which he writes notes each day about his day passed by and plans for the following. It additionally accommodates his evaluation of assorted opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and the way he can exploit that.

“Earlier, I would lack that belief when I played the top players,” he stated. “Mentally I feel the difference in my body language and approach now. It is more positive. I have the belief that I can match these top players. And the results have shown that.”

His sport has gone via fine-tuning too. “My attacking game was always good, so I worked on my passive game, stuff like blocking, etc.,” Desai, whose coaching base is in Germany, stated. “I realised mine was more a one-dimensional game, and on the days when my attack isn’t working or the opponent is better at it, I needed to have a Plan B. That’s what helped me in these wins.”

It additionally helped him rise 57 spots within the rankings inside per week, with the best way solely additional upward after Tunis. The dramatic soar “feels good”, he stated, though a extra constant stream of such wins and outcomes would really feel even higher.

“Anyone can do it one or two times. I want to do it consistently in the future — that is the big challenge,” he stated. “The potential is there, and that’s why it has happened. But now that I’m here, I want to remain at that level.”