Indian Coach Guides Chinese Tennis Star for 10 Years

When Chinese tennis player Fangran Tian was learning jiu-jitsu from her coach Mangal Sriram, she got so good she accidentally threw him to the ground and injured his knee. He spent two years on crutches, ending his playing career.

"I was pretty proud of myself that I'd knocked out my coach," Tian laughs now, a decade later. That moment captures the unique bond between the Chennai native and his Chinese student, a relationship that has lasted through wins, losses, and everything in between.

Sriram never planned to coach tennis. After getting a tennis scholarship to the University of Hawaii, he picked up coaching certifications and landed at a resort in Bali. The Chinese Tennis Federation was looking for coaches, contacted the USTA, and soon he was at Beijing's biggest tennis nursery.

That's where he met 12-year-old Tian. "Nobody wanted to coach her," he jokes, though the truth is she was one of many talented young players at the academy. What set their partnership apart was how they grew together.

While Sriram taught Tian discipline on the court, she made him punctual off it. He learned fluent Mandarin because of her. She improved her English because of him.

"He taught me everything about tennis," says Tian, now 22 and ranked 325th in the world. "He humbles me when I'm feeling too confident."

The Ripple Effect

This cross-cultural coaching relationship shows how sports can bridge countries in unexpected ways. China has imported tennis coaches from Spain, France, Australia, and now India, creating a global exchange of knowledge that lifts everyone involved.

Sriram thrives in China's coaching environment, where constant upskilling and knowledge sharing help him take Tian to the next level. She's won multiple age-group national titles and this week reached the semifinals of the WTA 125K event in Mumbai.

"I love playing in India," Tian says on her fifth visit to the country. She won her first junior tournament in the Indian city of Madurai. During tournaments she keeps food simple, but she makes an exception for butter chicken.

The families vacation together now. What started as a professional relationship between a coach looking for work and a young player needing guidance became something deeper.

"It's a bond of 10 years, our families know each other," Tian explains. Sriram agrees: "She's family now."

Tian wasn't the top junior in China when she started, and her family never pressured her for early results. What she had was emotional commitment and toughness that impressed Sriram from the start.

"Nothing brings her down," he says. "She plays a match and says 'Next' after tough losses."

This week in Mumbai, that resilience showed as Tian fought back from behind in multiple three-set matches to reach the semifinals. Her coach watched proudly from courtside, the man whose knee she once injured now celebrating her biggest wins.

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