A winner for tennis with 78 tourneys in year

The MSLTA has reiterated that their focus is on the smaller cities. MSLTA treasurer Sunder Iyer said,“This year,when we had the international tournaments in cities such as Aurangabad and Solapur apart from Pune and Mumbai,it was a novel experience. Most of the players who had travelled from abroad didn’t even know about the places and the facilities that they had there. However,the response we got was overwhelming. In Solapur,we had around 3,000 people coming in daily to watch the matches. It shows the keen interest that the sport can generate in the smaller cities if it gets proper exposure.”

However,Pune got the lion’s share of the competitions: 25 national and four international events were held in the city this year. The international tournaments include the Banyan Tree ATF Junior Championships held in April,the Solaris ITF Men’s $15,000 in November the LIC-ITF Women’s $10,000 held in Balewadi this month and the ongoing NECC-ITF Women’s $25,000 tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana. Iyer said most of the local tournaments are sponsored by the local organisers themselves. “It is surprising that people are coming forward to sponsor a game like tennis in the smaller cities. For the ranking tournaments,we sponsor half the tournament with the organisers sponsoring the other half,” he says.

Citing the example of Spain,Kannamwar said,“They have 54 international tournaments in a year. That is phenomenal in terms of games and more importantly,the experience. We will be looking to widen our reach of international tournaments next year because that will not only get sponsorship but also players and audiences. Any player who has to travel and play an international event has to shell out a minimum of Rs 75,000-Rs 1 lakh for each event. By providing these platforms in their home state,we help them save money.”

For the next,the MSLTA has fixed its focus to develop the game in cities such as Nagpur,Kolhapur,Nashik and Thane apart from Solapur and Aurangabad.

“We wish to go beyond the 78 tournaments conducted this year,which is the highest,and have more international tournaments next year. Cities such as Solapur,Kolhapur,Nashik,Aurangabad and Nagpur that hosted only one event a year have now ended up hosting two or three national ranking events. This has even helped players from states such as Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Gujarat who do not have many opportunities in their own states to improve their game,” added Kannamwar.