Nishesh Basavareddy is set to compete in his maiden Grand Slam after he received a wildcard entry to the
2025 Australian Open, and he couldn’t have asked for an even better first round match as he gears up to face Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, his tennis idol, on Monday.

Australian Open 2025 |
Top contenders, draws, prize money, live streaming and all you need to know

Basavareddy is just 19 years old and is yet to play a full ATP tour season. He only turned pro in December 2024, a few weeks ahead of the NextGen ATP Finals that took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Who is Nishesh Basavareddy?

Nishesh Basavareddy, born on 2 May, 2005, is an American of Indian origin. His parents were initially settled in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, but shifted to San Francisco in 1999. When Nishesh was eight years old, his family shifted once again, this time to Indiana. Nishesh met fellow Indian-American player Rajeev Ram during a tennis camp conducted by Bryan Smith, who coaches both Nishesh and Rajeev.

Rajeev Ram has mentored Nishesh ever since. In 2022, Nishesh clinched the boys’ doubles title at the US Open, partnering with Ozan Baris. Nishesh was also World No 3 in junior men’s tennis, which is his career-best ranking. He won two ATP Challenger titles in 2024 and also ended up as runner-up in four other tournaments of the same level. Those performances help him secure a spot in the NextGen ATP Finals in Saudi Arabia. He defeated Juncheng Shang of China to clinch his first-ever tour-level victory.

A first tour-level win!

Former junior World No. 3 Nishesh Basavareddy beats Jerry Shang for a memorable career milestone 👏#NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/zv9vxw0XMW

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) December 19, 2024

He had kickstarted 2024 as World No 457 but climbed to Word No 138 when the year ended. During an exclusive interview with Firstpost last year, Nishesh had spoken on his idol Novak Djokovic, his first meeting with Rajeev Ram and more. “My idol growing up was Novak Djokovic mostly. He’s my favourite player since I was young. But my dad kind of inspired me to pick up a racquet.

He played recreationally when we used to live in California, and then I just started following him and my older brother on to the court and started playing when I was only three of four years old and it just continued from there,”
Nishesh told Firstpost.

“I first met him when I was eight years old at a tennis camp. He joined in for a couple of points against me and some other friends. That’s when I first met him because we have the same coach,” Nishesh said on his first meeting with Rajeev Ram.

“Since then we just started talking a lot, especially in the last couple of years and he’s kind of mentored me along this journey in transition from junior tennis to college tennis to pro tennis, and just helped me understand what to expect on tour – the hurdles and also just what I should continue to improve in my game. The tennis knowledge that he has is really good, so he’s helped me a lot in this process,” he added.