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Somdev, who looked promising since turning pro last year, perched himself to a different level altogether after bringing the elite of the ATP tour down to their knees at the Chennai Open en route to his maiden ATP final.
Somdev downed the big-wigs like former world number one Carlos Moya, big serving Ivo Carlovic of Croatia and fought valiantly with another Croat Marin Cilic in the title clash.
India's current Davis Cup non-playing captain S P Misra, former captain Jaideep Mukherjea and former Davis Cup player Akhtar Ali have no doubt that Somdev is the 'star' the country needed to give a fillip to the game.
"It makes me very happy to see Somdev performing like this. He is very composed. He is a fighter and most importantly, he has the tennis brain," Mukherjea said.
"Definitely it is good for Indian tennis. Mahesh (Bhupathi) and Leander (Paes) have played a long innings and it's time for the youngsters to take over. His performance is a big boost for the tennis in India. More boys will come up now," he said.
Praising Somdev for his on-court attitude, Mukherjea said, "He is basically tough. He knows how to win the last point and in tennis, he wins who takes the last point."
Misra too applauded Somdev for putting extra hours on making himself fit for the vigours of the tough Tour.
"People do not concentrate on their fitness but he does. He likes to play long matches and that gives him an edge. I think we have got the player we were searching for years," Misra said.
"He is a very determined and dedicated player and has the potential to the take the Indian tennis forward. God has given him good game and only time will tell where he reaches from here," he said.
Misra also predicted that very soon the two time US collegiate champion will break into the top 100.
"He is on the right track. He need not worry. Give him time and he will mature as a player. He is going to come up well and you will soon find him in top 100."
Akhtar Ali could not hide excitement talking about Somdev's phenomenal performance in the Chennai Open.
"We all are very happy. This is very good thing happening to Indian tennis because our Davis Cup team is getting old. We were looking for a star and there he is," Ali said.
On being asked if Somdev could do better had he been a little taller and stronger in physique, Ali said, "A lot of tough players were not tall. They had average height. Somdev moves well and top players do that."
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Somdev may be Indian by birth but is a product of the American system that gave him all these opportunities.We should stop trying to claim him for ourselves.The real success will be when a raised and trained in indian achieves on international stage...like Bhupathi and Leas did in the doubles.
Ha, ha! Paes and Bhupathi trained in the USA and Europe. Their success is also due to the training facilties abroad. Paes lived in Southern Florida and trained there before he became established as a winning doubles player. Paes was never a great singles player even from the beginning, notwithstanding his bronze medal in Olympics. Paes never reached his full potential as a singles player and neither did Bhupathi.