Arnav Paparkar stormed his way into boys’ singles quarter-finals at the 2026 Wimbledon Juniors, becoming the first Indian in 36 years to do so.
The last Indian boys’ singles player to reach the Wimbledon Juniors quarter-finals was Leander Paes way back in 1990.
Paes had then gone on to win the boys’ singles title, beating Marcos Ondruska 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the final.
Paparkar, 18, took down Japan’s Ryo Tabata in the Round of 16 on Wednesday. The Indian required only 52 minutes to register a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 victory in straight sets.
Earlier, Paparkar had stunned the tennis fraternity by beating world No 3 Keaton Hance of the United States 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 32.
He had started his 2026 Wimbledon Juniors campaign with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Joshua Craze of Great Britain and is yet to concede a single set in the tournament.
Paparkar will next face either Jordan Lee or Tanishk Konduri, both of the United States, in the quarter-finals.
Only three Indians – Ramanathan Krishnan (1954), Ramesh Krishnan (1979), and Paes (1990) – have won the boys’ singles title at Wimbledon Juniors and Paparkar with his run of form has now put his hat in the ring to become the next in line.
Who is Arnav Paparkar?
Arnav Paparkar is an 18-year-old from Maharashtra. Born in 2008, he was a sporty kid since childhood dabbling in table tennis, swimming, cricket, and football.
Paparkar once stood outside a tennis court besides his swimming classes, watching the action from afar as a six-year-old. The tennis coach noticed him and asked him to join. That’s how his tryst with tennis began.
With the support of his parents, Paparkar rose through the ranks quickly. He first made headlines with his performances at the 2023 Australian Open Under-14 Asia-Pacific Elite Trophy.
Later the same year, he was crowned the U-16 national champion.
He made his ATP Challenger debut in 2024 before winning a ITF J60 title and a ITF J200 title in Bahrain and Malaysia respectively last year.
Earlier this year, Paparkar had made it to the third round of the Round Garros Juniors in boys’ singles before crashing out of contention.
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