By Saumojyoti Singha Choudhury, IANS
New Delhi : The All India Tennis Association (AITA) does not appear too keen on holding the ATP or WTA tournaments in the capital, its focus being on hosting more International Tennis Federation (ITF) matches to help young Indian players.
AITA secretary Anil Khanna, who is also president of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA), told IANS that his prime concern was to promote Indian tennis by giving opportunities to talented young men and women.
For that, he feels it is imperative to organise as many ITF tournaments as possible in the country.
After Mumbai and Chennai, the question being asked is when will Delhi get to see an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Open or a major Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex.
But Anil Khanna said: “We can easily host an ATP tournament in Delhi and being chief of the ATF, it’s no big deal for me.
“At the end of the day, would you like me to hold a glamorous ATP tournament every year, making huge money, or would you like me to create opportunities for juniors by organising more and more ITF tournaments?”
Apart from national ranking tournaments and a few bilateral events, the AITA will organise as many as 29 ITF tournaments in the country this year, both in the junior and senior categories.
Khanna said national federations are responsible for players only till the junior level as once a player attains the age of 18, he turns professional and from then on it is the responsibility of professional bodies.
He is critical of the way professional tennis is run globally.
“ATP, WTA and private sponsors, organisers of the four Grand Slam tournaments are only concerned about making money and not bothered about the worldwide development of the game. I wish they also ploughed some money back into the game,” Khanna said.
“Come to think of it, ATP makes $800 million to $1 billion a year, but shockingly it spends a mere $3 million on the game,” he added.
He also cited the example of Australia, which has not been able to produce a player of great merit in recent years despite its great sporting traditions and a Grand Slam event to boot.
Khanna, however, is determined to create opportunities for players from the continent to make a living out of the game.
The ATF, comprising 44 national associations as its members, had approached the ATP for providing opportunities for more Asian players in ATP events in the region, but no response was forthcoming.
Khanna is now planning to organise an ATF circuit for Asian players to compete for ATF points.