Indian Tennis Players Benefit from Increase in Home Tournaments
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The Indian tennis community has been advocating for more tournaments to be held on their home soil for some time. In the first quarter of the current season, however, India hosted eight International Tennis Federation (ITF) women’s and four men’s events, which is a considerable improvement compared to recent years. The events included three ATP Challengers and the ATP 250 in Pune, as well as several other junior ITF tournaments. This increase in domestic events has provided Indian players with the opportunity to earn points and rise up the rankings without having to compete abroad. While the volume of tournaments hosted in India still lags behind other countries in Asia and Europe, this recent development is significant. It has already enabled some Indian players to earn titles at home and benefit from the support of local fans.
The most successful of these players is 23-year-old Vaidehi Chaudhari, who won two ITF trophies within the first three months of the year. Her victories helped her rise in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings to 481, and she has since been selected for India’s Billie Jean King Cup squad.
Other players, such as Digvijay Pratap Singh and Sandeepti Singh Rao, also had promising results in the domestic tournaments. However, some of India’s top tennis players failed to make the most of the home events, suffering early exits or injuries.
Re-reported from the story originally published in Hindustan Times
