Chennai wildcard to Borg’s son irks some in Indian tennis

The decision of the ATP Chennai Open Challenger organisers to award one of the three main draw wildcards to a foreign player hasn’t gone down well with some people in Indian tennis, though it happens to be tennis legend Bjorn Borg’s son.

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association handed out wildcards to Indians Prajnesh Gunneswaran (world rank 306) and Ramkumar Ramanathan (412) as well as 515th-ranked Leo Borg, the 19-year-old Swede whose father, a 11-time Grand Slam winner, has accompanied him to Chennai. It meant the likes of Mukund Sasikumar, the India No 2 in singles (312) who is from the city and Sumit Nagal (509) will have to play the qualifiers on Sunday to make the cut.

Also Read | Davis Cup: India relegated to World Group II after losing Playoff 2-3 to Denmark

Vishal Uppal, the former Davis Cupper who is captain of the Billie Jean King Cup team, questioned whether Mukund and Nagal were not important enough to groom. “At a time when Indian Tennis Players need the most support & opportunities, why give a Main Draw Wild Card to a foreigner (just because he has a famous last name) in the ATP Challenger in Chennai?” Uppal tweeted.

Another former Davis Cup player, who did not wish to be named, said the rare opportunity of having three back-to-back Challengers in India—Chennai will be followed by Bengaluru and Pune—served an ideal opportunity to support the local pros at a time when India’s singles resources appears scarce. “We can keep complaining about things that are not ideal, like awarding wildcards, or just get on with the job,” he said.

Handing out wildcards, the organisers’ prerogative, is often a subjective issue even on the ATP Tour. However, Indian singles pros seldom enjoy the luxury of a direct entry into tournaments outside the country (the most recent exception being Nagal’s Australian Open wildcard in 2021).

For Indian players who do not get to play enough tournaments at home it can be a fillip. Like it did to Karman Kaur Thandi, who stunned eighth seed Chloe Paquet in the first round of the WTA 250 Chennai Open last year as a wildcard to zoom up the rankings.

It remains to be seen whether the organisers of the Bengaluru and Pune Challengers also decide to give a wildcard to Leo, who is due to play the entire Indian leg.