Who’s benefiting from the ATP Challengers in India?

Manish Sureshkumar in motion within the Chennai Open qualifiers on Sunday.
| Picture Credit score: B. Jothi Ramalingam

In an in any other case dismal tennis scene in India, one optimistic lately has been the conduct of a handful of ATP, WTA and ITF tournaments. Three States – Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – have put their finest foot ahead to assist Indian gamers acquire essential factors and transfer up the rankings.

The outcomes, nonetheless, paint a distinct image. There has solely been one Indian singles winner in 12 Challengers from 2019 – Sumit Nagal in Chennai final yr. Within the first of 4 back-to-back Challengers that will get underway in Chennai from Monday, not a single Indian is ranked excessive sufficient to achieve a direct essential draw entry.

World No. 105 Nagal, who breached the top-100 after profitable in Chennai, will not be taking part in any of the 4 competitions and has chosen his beloved clay in South America. Sasikumar Mukund (395), Ramkumar Ramanathan (400) and Karan Singh (500) all needed to be given wildcards.

Teaching conundrum

“The extent of teaching will not be ok,” Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who achieved a career-best rating of 75, informed The Hindu. “I gained’t blame the expertise or the potential. Gopi Chand and Rahul Dravid are teaching. It’s not that they didn’t do effectively as gamers and become profitable. However they’ve come again. The place is the tennis participant of that calibre teaching in India?

“Or rent foreigners, however they’ll ask thrice the wage, which is mainly throwing cash on the drawback like China. You may maintain 50 tournaments, but when your gamers usually are not ok, no one will win.”

Higher timing

Former India Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali felt that scheduling has performed a component. “Having three or 4 tournaments in a row attracts loads of high-ranked foreigners,” he mentioned. “It’s value efficient for them they usually take away loads of entries.”

“It’s higher to house tournaments out. Perhaps have two, give two or three weeks off. Have a pair in sizzling June as an alternative of nice February. You gained’t have loads of Individuals and Europeans coming.”

For the file, ATP discourages one-off occasions and desires two or extra bunched collectively. This helps gamers, no matter nationality, to handle prices higher. However the unlucky fallout is like what occurred in February, 2023, when Australian Max Purcell entered India ranked 203, swept all three Challengers and exited the nation ranked 95.

Catch-22 scenario

Attempting to ace this powerful balancing act is Sunil Yajaman, joint-secretary of Karnataka State Garden Tennis Affiliation (KSLTA), which is able to organise the Bengaluru Open (February 24 to March 2). The event has grown in stature – from 80 ATP factors and $7200 for the singles winner in 2022 to 125 and $28,400 in 2025. An Indian winner would be the icing on the cake.

“I hope the regulation of averages helps,” Yajaman quipped. “In Bangalore, we’ve got had two Indian winners in eight years (Nagal in 2017 and Prajnesh 2018), which is first rate. That mentioned, it’s an excellent alternative, and in the event that they put together barely higher and in another way, I’m certain they’ll do effectively.”