International tennis event returns to Mumbai with hopes of revival

MUMBAI: There was a time, not too long ago, when tennis fans in Mumbai could witness some rich quality players of world tennis in their own city.

Carlos Moya, current coach of Rafael Nadal, played in the city in an ATP Challenger in 2006. Richard Gasquet won it in 2007, the same year the Frenchman reached a career-high No. 7 ranking. Current women’s world No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka was champion of the WTA Mumbai Open in 2017 while former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki competed on the CCI courts in the 2018 edition, also the last.

After a hiatus, international tennis marks a return to Mumbai with the ITF $25K men’s tournament on the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) courts. The event, which begins with the qualifying rounds on Sunday and main draw from Tuesday, is the first ITF men’s tournament in the city in eight years.

Over the last decade as international tennis action dried up in Mumbai, it flowed to other parts of the state like Pune—it now hosts an ATP 250 and Challenger event—Solapur and even Navi Mumbai where an ITF women’s tournament is held.

“For some years in between the focus shifted to other districts in the state. It became very difficult to organise tournaments in Mumbai in terms of logistics and other things. But we thought we should try and revive things in Mumbai,” said Sunder Iyer, MSLTA secretary.

“With this (men’s event), we start again in Mumbai. The focus will be to have more events in Mumbai. Every year from here, we will try and have at least two tournaments—one men and one women—in the city,” he added.

The $25K ITF event is headlined by American Oliver Crawford, ranked 358 in the world. From a domestic perspective, India No. 7 Manish Sureshkumar and No. 8 Sidharth Rawat will look to make deep runs.