Organizers called for a qualifying wildcard to start Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi's impressive journey to the WTA L&T Mumbai Open semi-final. An email was the first step on the Indian teenager's route to being accepted into one of the top tennis academies in the world later this month.

Rafa Nadal Academy was an odd sender in her mother Revathi's inbox late last year. It stated that they were interested in hiring Maaya and asked if the Indian could visit the Spanish island of Mallorca for a trial.

Behind the crowded junior tennis scene, where hundreds of thousands of aspiring pros like Maaya compete, there is a process in place to identify and select the best players and smuggle them into prestigious academies across the world.

The majority of these competitions take place in the USA and Europe. Additionally, the academy typically contacts the children who made the shortlist. For example, last year Maaya participated in several junior ITF tournaments in Europe and Mexico in addition to the junior Australian Open.

This was the situation with Alexandra Eala, a 19-year-old Filipino player ranked 139th in the world and a six-year veteran of the Nadal Academy. Eala, who participated in Mumbai, stated, "After I won the Les Petits As in 2018, they reached out to my family."