KUALA LUMPUR: Promising tennis player, Darrshan Suresh Kumar has yet to make up his mind on whether he wants to turn professional or take the collegiate tennis path.
Darrshan, who turns 17 this year, said it will depend on how he fares this season.
The Ampang-born player played in two ITF futures events in Malaysia last year. He is currently ranked 337 in the ITF junior singles rankings.
"The plan this year is to play the ITF junior circuit and crack the top-100 in the junior rankings but also try to play more ITF (senior) futures as well," said Darrshan when met recently.
"I have about two years left (in the juniors) so playing against more pros in the futures (earlier) would help me prepare (for transition to senior tour).
"At the moment the long term goal is to play division one college tennis (in United States). Ideally, I would like to play for an Ivy league school, that would be great.
"But it will also depend on this year as well, if I can break into the top-400 of the ATP rankings (for seniors) I might try to turn pro.
"It (top-400) won't be easy and I will have to play a lot of tournaments.
"In tennis, if you can make the top-200 then you can start making some decent money. It's tough to make money if you are lower than that, the money in the futures and challengers is not enough to survive."
The Ampang-born player impressed at last month's Tennis Malaysia Masters, beating more experienced players en route to the final where he lost in three sets to Mitsuki Leong.
Darrshan also made his Davis Cup debut for Malaysia last year in the Asia-Oceania Group III competition in Sri Lanka.