Aryan Shah, born in Bhuj, Gujarat, has rapidly become one of the brightest prospects in Indian tennis.
Here is a heartfelt article written by keen observer of Indian Tennis
Known for his dedication, resilience, and steady progression, his journey from junior competitions to professional tennis highlights his determination to rise on the global stage. He trained under Vaidik Munshaw, who also played GS Junior tournament in Australia. He is training in Altevol Tennis Academy, Gujarat. He won 1 Junior Title which was in Sarawak, Malaysia which helped him to get into AO Juniors Main Draw 2023 and reached couple of finals.
Aryan Shah has played all 4 GS Juniors in 2023. Registering 4 wins in Qualies, 0-2 in GS Main Draw (Lost to Fonseca in AO, Kang in USO). Nevertheless, his junior career has been great with a career high ranking of 39. He had a great junior career honestly.
Transition from Juniors to Pro
2024 was his 1st year as a full pro. Before 2024, he did win some pro matches, defeating Lakshya Sood, KokiMatsuda, Sidharth Rawat and Adil Kalyanpur. He started his 1st pro tournament in M25 Bhopal, defeated Orel Kilmi, lefty player and reached QF there, lost to Crawford. Then his breakthrough tournament was in Kingston, Jamaica where he reached final in the 1st tournament. It had a set of 3 tournaments in Kingston. Defeated Asaba, Fenty, Chin, Ezekial Clark and lost to Pannu in the final.
Winning his 1st Pro Title- M15 Kingston
He reached QF there in his 2nd tournament there. And in the 3rd tournament, he got top seed Peter Bertran which was a tough one for Aryan but he did overcome the match from a set down to win in 3 sets which helped him to gain his confidence. Then he defeated A Ciocanu in R2, Drew Van Orderlain in QF, Kosuke Ogura in SF and then won against Dan Martin in the final, thereby secured his 1st Pro Title. Before playing Kingston series in 2024, his rank was 1096.
After playing 3 tournaments in Kingston, he made a huge jump from 1096 to 754 secured 25 points which helped him to get seeded in ITF events most probably. This kind of huge jumps made Shah to be more confident with his game as well as the proper scheduling.
Rest of the Year Performance in 2024
After winning his 1st pro title, Shah decided to play couple of tournaments in South Africa, reaching SF in M25 Category, 2 QF in M15 Category which helped him to climb up the rankings from 754 to 672. Then he took a month break, couple of mixed results in Asian Tournaments. Played one Indoor Tournament in Sweden, reached QF there. After all these tournaments, he played Indian ITF Tournaments, He played 3 M25 ITF, reaching one SF, one QF and R2. Some memorable matches from him against Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar, Sidharth Rawat etc. So, End Ranking in 2024 was 591.
A solid year from Aryan Shah from 1239 to 591 with a W-L record of 33- 16.
After all these memorable tournaments in June and July, Aryan Shah got a maiden Davis Cup Call-Up against Sweden in Stockholm last year, which gained his confidence a lot and can witness the intensity and atmosphere of the DC Tie. Despite not getting a match in Sweden, he become a part of an Indian Davis Cup Team. Joining with Alexander Waske University After the Indian Swing, Aryan Shah went to Europe for the preseason training and his home base academy Altevol Sports Academy had a close collaboration with Alexander Waske University in Germany. He started going there in December for 2025 preseason.
And his travelling coach/head coach is Cobus Van Wyk, who has been a big reason for the evolution of Aryan Shah.
The First ever M25 Title at M25 Ahmedabad.
He started his 2025 season, but it has been quite bad because he got injured at the start of the season itself, and couldn’t grab some wins in January. But he did win in his 1st Challenger match against Blake Ellis in Delhi and then did put a decent fight against Immamura. He won against Van Wyk in Bengaluru. In M25 Ahmedabad, the tournament is played in his academy, He defeated Korean Player Park in R1, Kamath in R2, upset Binda in QF, defeated Junior No: 1 from India Kriish Tyagi and won against Jay Clarke in the Final to grab his 1st M25 Title, which has been the beginning of the evolution of Aryan Shah.
This title helped him to reach top 500 as well as 8 Next Gen Accelerator Card, which can be used for Challenger 50,75.
Reaching his 1st Challenger QF- Abidjan 2
After Indian Swing, Aryan Shah decided to play 2 Challenger tournaments in Abidjan which is located in Côte d’Ivoire. He lost a close match to Berankis in R1, who was the eventual finalist in that tournament. Then, he played Abidjan 2, defeated Taha Baadi in R1 to grab his 1st Challenger Main Draw win in his career, upset Ergi Kirkin in R2 and then had to retire due to Shoulder Injury in his QF match against Geerts.
After Abidjan Series, he decided to train in Waske University in Germany for the preparation of clay to play 2 tournaments in Coquimbo, Chile. His clay record in Juniors is quite bad, and it would suggest that Shah is not too comfortable on clay. But, he played quite well in those 2 tournaments, defeated some decent clay courters, players like Cigarran, Gimenez, Ribeiro De Almeida etc.. Lost to 2 good players in those tournaments Lautaro Midon and L. E Ambrogi. Reached QF in his 1st attempt and reached SF in his 2nd attempt.
These runs would make him quite confident with his game on clay and these clay matches may improve Aryan’s physicality honestly.
Maiden Challenger Quarterfinals & SemiFinal in Europe, Pozoblanco & Segovia
So, after those tournaments in South America, Aryan did play some tournaments, reached SF in M25 Santo Domingo, and he got injured in M25 Marburg against Gerch and had a close match against Kivattsev in Kassell. After that, he went to play 2 Spain Challengers: Pozoblanco & Segovia (Challenger 75)
He played Qualies in Pozoblanco, this is his 1st Challenger in Europe. Played a great match against Echeverria in Q1, Glinka in Q2 to advance into the main draw of Pozoblanco. Defeated Couilabily in R1 which has been a 3- setter match to grab his 1st Challenger MD win on Europe, defeated Peniston in R2 and lost to Sun in QF. After that, he played Segovia which has been a big turning point of Shah’s career so far. Upset top seed Duje Ajdukovic in R1, which in fact gained his confidence. Then, he defeated Purtseladze in R2 and then a tough match-up for Aryan Shah, i.e Oliver Crawford. He was 0-4 against him.
But Shah was quite motivated on the court and played aggressive tennis, reached SF in Segovia, it’s his maiden Challenger SF and this is his biggest win of his career. A heartbreaking loss for Aryan Shah, losing to Alvarez Varona in SF in 3-setter. But it has been an incredible run in Spain Challengers, which indeed had been ahuge jump in the rankings. Before playing Spain Challengers, he was 489. After these runs, he broke into top 400 and his rank is about 390.
Winning his 1st Challenger MD on Clay- Sofia Challenger
After those memorable runs in Pozoblanco & Segovia, he decided to play 2 Challengers in Sofia on Clay. He defeated Alexander Donski who is the local favorite there in 3 sets, Shah was quite rusty in the 1st set, then he raised his level and win it in 3 sets to grab his 1st Challenger main draw win on clay. But he had some tough losses in those tournaments against Ajdukovic and in Sofia 2, lost to Sharipov from 5-2 up in the 1st set and then he lost his rhythm. His 2025 season has been quite good so far.
What has been the reason for his development??
So, I witnessed his game when he was playing Indian Tournaments in 2024, he has a good serve with decent baseline game and his net game is quite impressive, knows how to be constructive, but his baseline game has not been good at those times to compete against top players.
However, in 2025, he did improve his baseline game, serve and his mentality. He has been quite good with his mental strength. Joining Waske University has been a turning point in Aryan Shah’s career. He was not a good returner when I saw his game, but he improve significantly on his returns and know how to construct those points in an intelligent way, he improved his court coverage.
Besides his game improvements, he is the guy who works extremely hard, sets his goals and tries to achieve it as quickly as possible, which has been a great asset in his career. Aryan Shah’s evolution has been remarkable so far, earning him a Davis Cup call-up for India’s upcoming tie against Switzerland in Biel (indoors). With this opportunity, he will look to showcase his talent on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
Aryan Shah has proven himself as one of the most promising talents in Indian tennis. With his rapid progress and consistent performances, fans now expect to see him competing in higher-level tournaments, and he is well on course to make his Grand Slam debut as early as next year.
