Third edition set for rollout

This year three-time French Open winner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is visiting India for the finals in April

The French Tennis Federation, organisers of the French Open and the All India Tennis Association on Wednesday announced the third edition of the Rendez-Vous a Roland-Garros in partnership with Longines.

Returning for the third consecutive year, the tournament is aimed at promoting young talent and clay-court tennis in India.

Prior to the Masters in New Delhi in April, the tournament will have a qualifier round in March in Pune and Kolkata where performance will count towards AITA ranking points.

The main draw will have 64 boys and 48 girls.

Based on the results, the top 16 will qualify for the Masters in New Delhi to be held on April 18 and 19. The winners of the India leg will go on to face winners from Brazil, South Korea, China, Japan and the United States in the playoffs in Paris and the eventual champions will get a wild card entry to the French Open Junior.

“We have made a long term commitment to nurture and encourage talent from India. Last year we worked closely with AITA and created new clay courts. This year we have added another dimension with the inclusion of the qualifiers in Kolkata and Pune allowing for more players to vie for this golden opportunity,” said FFT director of development Sam Primaut.

Welcoming this years’ edition, AITA president Praveen Mahajan said, “AITA is committed to it’s partnership with the FFT and we are extremely happy to see the progress of this initiative growing each year since the past three years. The opportunity that Rendez-Vous a RolandGarros provides is excellent and we want to encourage more talent to participate.”