Most likely, while you sleep, a Carmel High School The graduate will face one of the greatest tennis players of all time on the other side of the world.
And no, that’s not the case Rajeev Ram this time.
Carmel graduate Nishesh Basavareddy takes on 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic at 3 a.m. Monday in the first round of Australian Open.
Who is Nishesh Basavareddy?
Basavareddy and his family moved from California to central Indiana when he was 8 years old.
Basavareddy, 19, was ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the 2022 class, according to Tennis Recruiting, and chose perennial powerhouse Stanford.
After earning Second Team All-Pac-12 as a freshman in 2023, Basavareddy was named the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year in 2024. A two-time All-American, Basavareddy turned professional in December after dominating the ATP Challenger Tour. (record 41-13).
In the build-up to the Australian Open, Basavareddy advanced to the semi-finals of the Auckland 250, before losing to French veteran Gaël Monfils.
Nishesh Basavareddy gets help from Rajeev Ram
Basavareddy and fellow Carmel graduate Rajeev Ram met at a tennis camp hosted by their mutual coach Bryan Smith.
“We formed a pretty strong bond as two kids from this town, both of Native American descent, trying to make it in professional tennis,” Ram told WTHR in August.
“I practiced with (Nishesh) probably as much as with anyone in my life at home,” Ram told ATPTour.com. “He’s been a good enough player since he was 13 or 14 that I could hit him.”
A 2000 Carmel graduate, Ram has 31 men’s doubles titles during his career, with six Grand Slam titles (four men’s, two mixed).
“(Rajeev) was very important to my growth because he played junior tennis, college tennis and made the jump to professional tennis after leaving the University of Illinois,” Basavareddy told ATPTour .com. “I think having all his advice, what to expect on the professional tour, and the tennis advice has been huge for me.
Nishesh Basavareddy plays against his idol Novak Djokovic
“I admire a lot of things about his game,” Basavareddy told ATPTour.com in October. “I think first of all of his mental strength and all the tenacity he has at every moment of his career. And also of the way he has left no stone unturned throughout his career. He has worked on his diet, he worked on his physical strength, his mental strength. He has no holes.
Nishesh Basavareddy and Andrew Luck Lunch Dates
Basavareddy has a big fan in another former Stanford product with ties to Indianapolis: former Colts QB Andrew Luck.
“I know him relatively well. I had lunch with him twice last year, so that was pretty cool,” Basavareddy told ATPTour.com. “He’s a very humble and down-to-earth guy. At one point in his career, while he was playing for the Colts, he lived five minutes from me. I think that’s a pretty cool thing that we share.
What is Nishesh Basavareddy’s world ranking?
Basavareddy is ranked No. 107 in the world on the ATP Tour, a career-high.
Is this Nishesh Basavareddy’s first Grand Slam?
No. Basavareddy earned a wild card into last summer’s US Open.
This article was originally published on the Indianapolis Star: Who is Nishesh Basavareddy? Carmel grad faces Novak Djokovic at Australian Open
