Indian Challenger leg: A shot in the arm for Indian tennis

Somdev Devvarman with the singles title at the R.K.Khanna Tennis stadium in Delhi

After a five-year hiatus, the Challenger circuit returned to India with the Chennai Challenger. Having successfully hosted the Chennai Open in early January, the Nungumbakkum stadium was the perfect setting to kick-start three weeks of tennis action. The Chennai tournament was followed by an event in Kolkata and the entire sojourn was capped off with the challenger at the R.K Khanna tennis stadium in Delhi.

To clarify on what a Challenger tournament is: It is a tournament at a level lower than the 250 ranking point events. While Futures tournaments are the first tournaments that a tennis player plays on becoming a pro, the Challengers provide an additional level of difficulty, with the contesting players ranked just outside the top 100. The crucial points gained in these tournaments help to create a path to the top levels of world tennis.

A major problem for players ranked outside the top 300 in the world is that for entry into the main draw of these Challenger tournaments, they have to go through a qualifying leg. Thus if a qualifier wants to win the title, he may have to play close to seven matches in a week. The advantage of the tournaments being held in India is that most of the lower-ranked budding talents can secure a wildcard entry into the main draw of the event.

These three tournaments saw multiple Indian winners and results which ensured a significant rise in rankings for Indian tennis players. The Chennai event was dominated by young Yuki Bhambri, who captured both the singles and the doubles title. Despite failing to reach the business ends of the remaining two tournaments, Yuki made a significant jump of 27 places in the ATP rankings to be ranked at world number 146.

Meanwhile, India’s number one tennis player Somdev Devvarman had a golden chance to rise in the rankings. However, the “Somdev Swing” did not materialize as expected as he fell to Bhambri and Donskoy in the semis in Chennai and Kolkata respectively.

But playing on a slow R.K. Khanna tennis court where he had also captured the Commonwealth gold medal, Devvarman produced an emphatic display of tennis, winning the Delhi leg without losing a set. This three-week effort helped Devvarman reach a ranking of 78 from the previous 103 at the start of the Challenger events.

Apart from the singles success, the doubles events saw the Indian duo of Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh capture back-to-back titles in Kolkata and Delhi. These titles helped Sanam to rise from world number 445 to 219 while Myneni rose from 311 to 179 in the latest ATP doubles rankings.

These tournaments also helped rising talents like Ramkumar Ramanathan to have a taste of facing higher-ranked players on the men’s circuit.

All in all, these tournaments provided a much-needed boost to Indian tennis, and it can only be hoped that the AITA considers many such initiatives in the future to help develop Indian tennis to the next level.