Staring at unique challenge

India is hosting four Challengers this month, but barring Sumit Nagal, no other Indian can qualify directly to the main draw. So, does it serve its intended purpose?

In 2014, when India hosted three back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour events for the first time in six years, the happiest lot, unsurprisingly, were the home players.

Forced to criss-cross the globe, more often to expensive European countries or the Americas, just to stay afloat in the ruthless world of competitive tennis, the comfort of staying and playing at home for almost a month was a rare blessing. And they made the most of it.

Yuki Bhambri, a fast-rising young talent then looking to break into the top 100, made a promising start to the Indian sojourn when he won the singles and the doubles titles, partnering Michael Venus, in the opening leg at Chennai.

The exciting doubles pairing of Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh triumphed in the second and third legs in Kolkata and New Delhi respectively, while Somdev Devvarman, the torch-bearer of Indian tennis at that time, provided the perfect climax to a phenomenal three weeks for India by standing atop the singles podium in the national capital.

Such was the delight that even the normally outspoken Devvarman, who barely holds back his punches against the All India Tennis Federation (AITA) or the state of tennis in the country, was full of praise for the people involved in stringing together the three events.

Fast forward a decade, and the situation is grim—not in terms of hosting, but in performance and the abject state Indian tennis finds itself in, especially in singles. After a lull during the COVID pandemic (2020-22), when not just sport but the world in general was brought to its knees and millions struggled to find a defense mechanism, India, like the rest of the globe, is up and running now.

In 2023, India hosted three Challengers and one ATP Tour event, while last year it staged four Challengers—laying the stage for the home players to not just earn valuable ranking points in favorable conditions but become champions.

Since the resumption of Challengers in India in 2022, only Sumit Nagal has managed to triumph in singles—at the Chennai Open last year. Much of the success has come in the doubles section, with Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan winning thrice and the duo of Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth laying their hands on silverware once.

This year, India is hosting four Challengers (ongoing), and only Nagal, who dropped 24 places to be ranked World No. 129, qualifies directly for the main draw. The rest of the pack—all ranked 400 and below—are relying on wildcards for a chance to play singles in the tournament proper.

With Nagal, who would have had the red carpet rolled out for him, preferring the South American swing over India, the hope for India rests only in doubles, where they are doing relatively okay.

So this begs an important question: Are these Challenger events actually serving the purpose of being beneficial for Indians? Or are they a vanity project just to keep India’s face alive in world tennis while eventually helping the foreigners more?

Former player and reputed coach Nandan Bal chooses to disagree and feels that despite the current struggles of singles players, Challengers are the tonic Indian tennis needs.

“Irrespective of whether we are losing, some of the guys are losing in the first round or not winning a round or two, I think this is the way forward,” Bal tells DH.

“Just because we are not winning doesn’t mean that we stop having these tournaments. Giving these players wildcards either into the main draw or into the qualifying is the way forward to help them improve their ranking. We need these tournaments, and we need our players to get that exposure, maybe through wildcards either to the main draw or the qualifying, so that they can play against better players who are ranked higher. That is how you get better in your home conditions.”

Bal even cites the example of 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran, who blitzed a trail in reaching the semifinals of the Mumbai Open WTA 125 Series early this month after receiving a wildcard.

“A case in point is somebody like Maaya Rajeshwaran, who reached the semis (in Mumbai) and suddenly made a breakthrough from a zero ranking to the top 600 or 700 (646 actually) in the world. So, you know, somewhere, somebody makes a breakthrough, and then it all becomes worth it.”

2018 Jakarta Asian Games bronze medalist Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who rose to World No. 75 in singles, begged to differ and felt that given the current state of affairs, India should try hosting more Futures instead of Challengers.

“Most Indians are not good enough to make the cutoff for higher-level tournaments because of their rankings. For most Indians, it’s always been the problem. I guess the problem lies in the fact that there aren’t enough Futures leading up to the Challengers, or there aren’t enough Futures in general because that’s the stepping stone to the Challengers. So, if you want players to get into the Challengers, there need to be enough Futures as a pipeline. So, the goal has to be to have the right number of Futures and the Challengers.”

Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association Joint Secretary Sunil Yajaman agreed with Gunneswaran but felt that unless players aim higher, they’ll never climb the ladder of success.

“When we did not have Challengers, it was the players who were saying that we need more Challengers in the country. When you have more Challengers, people are saying that we need more Futures than Challengers. It’s very unfortunate.

“When a player doesn’t have a ranking or if he is ranked way down, 600 or 700, that’s when you need the Futures. I think there is enough opportunity for our players to get into the top 400 in the world using these Futures. When you reach that 400-450 level, then you’ve got to start playing Challengers.”

Bal and Yajaman are absolutely on point when they talk about playing higher-ranked competitors to become a better athlete. It’s common wisdom that to excel, one needs to keep pushing the boundaries.

Although AITA is in a deep state of mess, various state associations like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and New Delhi are doing their bit in getting as many Challengers as possible, thereby ensuring the players are presented an opportunity to strike gold.

It’s up to the racquet wielders to dig deep and reap the rewards.