The year 2017 has been a breakout year for 24-year-old Kidambi Srikanth as he won four Superseries titles (two among them back-to-back)—only the fourth men’s singles player and the lone Indian to do so in a calendar year. Extremely agile and a master at net play, Srikanth’s conquests include reigning World No 1 Viktor Axelsen, whom he defeated on his own turf in the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open, and Chinese Olympic gold-medallist Chen Long. A late convert to the singles game—he primarily played doubles before his coach Pullela Gopichand asked him to switch—Srikanth reached a career-high rank of World No 2 before a leg injury halted his charge; he finished the year as No 4.
(This story appears in the 05 January, 2018 issue of Forbes India. You can buy our tablet version from Magzter.com. To visit our Archives, click here.)