India’s tennis players stuck at home due to travel restrictions, unsure of next event

Express News Service

CHENNAI:  In three weeks’ time, the Almaty ATP Challenger in Kazakhstan will begin. Normally, the likes of Arjun Kadhe and Sidharth Rawat will be looking at hotel bookings and flight options. This year? Not so much. They can’t travel considering the organisers have stated a raider to go along with instructions that was mailed — this daily has accessed the email — to all players a few days ago. 

“Citizens of India are NOT ALLOWED to travel to Kazakhstan according to the latest government decision,” says the raider. Fair to say the likes of Rawat are despondent at the moment. Rawat has not played a competitive game for 45 days and doesn’t know when he will play next. “It’s become extremely difficult if you are an Indian tennis player,” he says. “We don’t get visas at all because we are in the travel red list. Kazakhstan would have been one option but this year that’s not possible.” 

Even as men’s singles players inside the top 200 — Sumit Nagal and Prajnesh Gunneswaran — have managed to get out of the country to keep playing, most of the rest have already gone over a month without a game. 

Infact, barring Nagal, Gunneswaran and Sasikumar Mukund, who lives in Austria, no other Indian player has managed to play on the Challenger Tour or travel outside to play in the ITF circuit since April. For instance, Kadhe, who triumphed with Saketh Myneni in the men’s doubles in the last professional men’s tennis event held held in India (New Delhi M15), isn’t even clear on the kind of paperwork required to get out of India. “Somebody tells me a letter is needed from home ministry, somebody is asking me for a letter from some other ministry… I don’t really think the rules are clear at the moment. So I have decided to stay put at the moment.” 

Kazakhstan was an option for him as well but now both players are eyeing an ITF event in Egypt in June to get back on the circuit. While Kadhe knows he can exit the country, he’s loathing to do it for multiple reasons. “I have been told sometimes immigration might send you back. You may have to serve quarantine for 10 days. And rules themselves get changed every 2-3 days so I don’t want to take that chance at the moment.” 

Rawat goes a step further. For example, he doesn’t even know if Kazakhstan will allow him even if he serves quarantine in some other country.

Players’ World ranking 

Last meet date
Saketh Myneni 467 Delhi, Mar 29 – Apr 4
S Rawat 484 Delhi, Mar 29 – Apr 4
M Sureshkumar 637 Delhi Mar 29 – Apr 4
Arjun Kadhe 716 Delhi Mar 29 – Apr 4
Niki Poonacha 745 Delhi Mar 29 – Apr 4
Aryan Goveas 876 Indore March 8 – 14