Challenger boost for Indian tennis

From zero ATP Challenger events in 2021, India is likely to host four over the next few months as per the All India Tennis Association’s (AITA) calendar from November 2022 to March 2023.

Nagpur is expected to get a maiden ATP 50 Challenger event, scheduled for February 2023. Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai will host three 100 Challengers. AITA has applied for them and while the final approval from ATP will be subject to venue inspection and other clearances, the federation is confident. “They have their formalities to be done but we should get it,” Anil Dhupar, AITA secretary-general, said.

India did not host a single Challenger event last year amid the pandemic. While Pune and Bengaluru have been on the calendar, Chennai will mark its return to the circuit after holding just two editions, in 2018 and 2019. The three 100 Challengers—all have been upgraded from category 80—apart from the tournament in Nagpur will be good news for India’s top male players, who can compete at home, make deep runs and climb up the rankings chart.

“The two years of Covid took its toll on tournaments in India, but the record events will help our players bounce back,” Dhupar said.

Apart from the Challengers, AITA also announced 8 ITF men’s events, 9 women’s events and 11 ITF junior events at home across the five-month period. The ITF women’s tournaments will include a couple of $40,000 events, the first in India, in Pune and Indore in January.