Tamil Nadu Tennis Association - 75 years old and still young

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, which is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee, has a glorious past to look back on, writes N. KUMAR, President, TNTA.

CHENNAI'S involvement with tennis dates back to 1880s when some of the prominent clubs in the city, strongly influenced by the trend in U.K. and other countries, introduced tennis. Madras Cricket Club was among the first to lay tennis courts and also to conduct a tournament of considerable magnitude in 1887, which later came to be known as Southern India lawn tennis tournament. This tournament, however, was not open to all: only Europeans could participate in it. At the end of the 19th century, the city colleges, prominent among them Presidency, Law and Christian played a key role in propagating tennis among Indians. After much confabulation and the intervention of the then Governor of Madras, Lord Pentland, wiser counsel prevailed and the South India Lawn Tennis tournament became truly open in 1917 by admitting the Indians. It was held in MCC and saw the emergence of Indians as a strong force in tennis. The doubles event was won by D. Mahanti and K.P. Lakshman Rao, who subsequently became a Justice of the Madras High Court and served as the President of Madras Provincial Lawn Tennis Association for nine years and thus contributed to the development of the game in Chennai.

It was after the first world war that more and more Indians took to tennis and acquired proficiency over the game which had become very much a part of Chennai's sporting culture. The growing stature of the game in Madras Presidency which then consisted of most of the subsequently formed southern states, led to the formation of Madras Presidency Lawn Tennis Association in 1926 with the affiliation of just 3 clubs, namely MCC, MUC and SIAA. Since its inception, the Association has been growing from strength to strength and now 28 Clubs in Chennai and 8 District Associations are affiliated to it. Many eminent personalities served as the President of the Association and they include Sir K. P. Lakshman Rao, Justice E. E. Mack, Justice K. Subba Rao, who later rose to be the Chief Justice of India, Mr. M. A. Chidambaram, Mr. S. R. Sethupathy, the Raja of Ramnad, Mr. G. Kasturi, Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy, Mr. N. Sankar and Mr. N. Murali. After the reorganisation of the states in 1956, the Association's jurisdiction has been restricted to the state of Tamil Nadu.

Our state's contribution to the administration of tennis at the National level has been considerable. Juvaraj of Pithapuram, M.A. Chidambaram and C. Subramaniam held the office of the President of All India Tennis Association (AITA) and N. Krishnaswamy and P.L. Reddy the office of Honorary Secretary of AITA.

From the beginning, South Indians have shown a great aptitude for tennis and they took to the game like ducks to water. Tennis for them was as much an intellectual exercise as physical and they extensively used various spins and angles to control the ball and baffle the opponents. Intimacy with ball badminton, a game peculiar to the south enabled players, particularly those from Andhra, to develop quick reflexes and an ability to effectively deal with the ball before bounce. These assiduously developed skills found expression in regularly organised tournaments in Chennai by various clubs like MCC, Gymkhana, Mylapore Club, SIAA, Cosmopolitan Club and Madras United Club. The other leading centres of Tennis in the then Madras Presidency were Tiruchi, Madurai, Coimbatore, Ootacamund, Vijayawada, Guntur and Rajhamundry. In addition the Inter Association Tournament played from 1946 among the states of Madras, Mysore and Travancore initially, with Hyderabad coming in later, for the John Memorial Trophy was one of the most popular events of those years. Played on Davis Cup lines (4 singles and 1 doubles) and held in rotation at the four centres, it generated a great deal of interest. The Egmore Tennis Stadium built in 1946 was among the first public courts in India and it became the centre of Tennis activity in Chennai. Many international, national and state level tournaments and exhibition matches were regularly conducted here. In the 60s, the South India Tennis Championships were regularly conducted at the Madras Gymkhana Club and the last edition of this historic tournament was held in 2000 when Vinod Sridhar won the title. TNTA by itself has been conducting the MCC-IOB Junior Under 18 Nationals for the last ten years and the Nutrine Sub-Junior Under 14 & 16 Nationals since the last three years.

Today, the number of tournaments conducted in Chennai has grown to twenty two comprising regional, national and international tournaments. Under the last category comes Satellite, Futures and Challengers. This apart, competitive Tennis at the collegiate level has always been very popular and the Loyola College tournaments - Stanley Cup and Erskine Cup - enjoy prominent place.

Tennis has always enjoyed a great public appeal in Chennai and people came in large numbers to witness the artistic skills of T.B. Balagopal as much as the aggressive serve and volley game of C. Ramaswamy who had the distinction of representing India in both cricket and Tennis in the 1920s. The sharp contrast in styles between these two players made their duels exhilarating. The other players of distinction from Madras were N. Krishnaswamy, M.V. Bobjee, M.V.G. Appa Rao, P.S. Seshadri, P.L. Narayana Rao, S. Vishnu Mohan, D. Madhav Rao, V. Ranganathan, T.K. Ramanathan and Dr. S. Rajan.

The emergence of Ramanathan Krishnan in the early 50s and his dominance over Indian Tennis for nearly two decades triggered a Tennis boom not only in Tamil Nadu, but in the entire country. His extraordinary skills as a player made him perform with distinction on the international circuit. He reached the semifinals in the Wimbledon championships in 1961 and '62 and was the chief architect of India reaching the Davis Cup Challenge Round for the first time in the year 1966. The presence of Ramanathan Krishnan helped to attract the participation of many leading players in the world in tournaments and exhibition matches not only in Chennai but also at other centres in India. Thus Chennai had the fortune of seeing in action great champions such as Frank Sedgeman, Roy Emerson, Neale Fraser, Budge Party and J. Drobny. In the late 60s under the able guidance of T. A. Rama Rao, the chief coach of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, the Amritraj Brothers blossomed as champions and Vijay Amritraj turned out to be Krishnan's successor. Vijay, a graceful and classic player who combined power with delicate touch, reached twice the quarterfinals in the Wimbledon singles event and helped India to reach the Davis Cup finals in the years 1974 and 1987. Anand and Vijay proved to be a formidable combination and they reached the Wimbledon doubles semi-finals in the year 1976. Vijay was also the first President of the Association of Tennis Players and served in this capacity for five years. He was also awarded the United Nations Fairplay Award in Paris in 1988.

Meanwhile, Ramesh Krishnan, under the tutelage of his grandfather T. K. Ramanathan, turned out to be a champion in his own right. A graceful and artistic player, who relied on subtle placements rather than power, he won the Wimbledon Junior Championship in 1978. Thrice a quarter- finalist in the Grand Slam tournaments, he played a magnificent match against Australia in the Davis Cup semi-finals in 1987 and thus helped India along with Vijay and Anand to reach the Davis Cup Challenge Round.

Many more colourful players have emerged from Tamil Nadu to adorn the national tennis scene and amongst them are A. J. Udaya Kumar, Shankar Krishnan, Rabi Venkatesan, J. Royappa, B. M. Balasubramaniam, C.G.K. Bhupathi (then stationed in Chennai), S. Vasudevan and V. R. Balasubramaniam, R. Elango, K. G. Ramesh, Manoj Kumar from the districts.

Lakshmi Mahadevan of Chennai was the first Indian to win the Asian Women's Singles Championship and she was the top player among Indian women in the early 60s. Now, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, hailing from Coimbatore, is the leading woman player in India and she has the distinction of being the first to have participated in a Grand Slam - Australian Open in 1998. Among the other players from Tamil Nadu who have played with distinction are Amreetha Balachandran (previously Ahluwalia), Namrata Appa Rao, Zenobia Irani, Radhika Krishnan, Aradhana Reddy, Rushmi Chakravarthy and Sai Jayalakshmi.

One Annual Event that all affiliated clubs look forward to is the TNTA Tennis League conducted in Chennai. The event has been in vogue for at least fifty years. Over these years, the league has fostered healthy competition and camaraderie amongst the tennis playing clubs and community of the city. Thanks to the late P. R. Subramaniam and now Dr. P. Narasimhan, a tournament referee of eminence, the league has been conducted in a systematic manner with over 400 players from 26 clubs participating in 7 zones and 1 veteran event. The Sanmar Group has sponsored the league for the last nine years and it is now known as the Sanmar-TNTA League. A similar league is also gaining popularity in Coimbatore.

Since the last 10 years, TNTA has been regularly conducting its Annual Day during which awards to preforming players and the prizes to the winners of the City League are presented and thus inspiring them to do better.

Tamil Nadu Tennis Association has been actively engaged in the promotion of the game. Recognising its primary responsibility to provide coaching to young players, it set up 50 years ago a coaching scheme in the Egmore Tennis Stadium. T. A. Rama Rao was its first chief coach and continued till his death in 1973. Robin Manfred was coach till 1991. Since then, there are three coaches working along with the Director, Hiten Joshi. Since 1999, a coaching scheme has also been set up at the new Numgambakkam Tennis Stadium. The coaching scheme is still going strong making available Tennis learning facilities to more than 150 boys and girls at affordable rates. Thousands of youngsters have now taken to tennis in our state and there are now as many as fifteen coaching centres in Chennai alone. Among the centres are Triangle Tennis Trust (TTT), Krishnan Tennis Centre (KTC), Muthukrishnan Memorial Club (MMC), CATA and many others. One of them the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Foundation (BAT) caters only to selectplayers and provides them residential facilities and tournament exposure. Leander Paes, whose achievements are well known, was one of their trainees. In the districts, there are an increasing number of coaching centres being established. In Coimbatore, K. G. Ramesh and Manoj Kumar are looking after CDTA coaching scheme.

Our Association has as part of the Platinum Jubilee programme initiated an advanced development scheme called Tamil Nadu Academy for Tennis Excellence (TATE). This academy will provide to the guidance, tournament exposure, facilities for physical training and equipment to the players, preferably of the age group 14-16 years. The concept of this academy was recommendable by the Strategy Committee headed by Mr. V. Narayanan, who is also the vice-president.

Hiten Joshi as the Director and Arul Amalnathan (now ITF level- II coach) as coaches are in-charge of this programme. In the next months, data of over 60 players in various age groups was consolidated. Then the selection process began. In April 2000, 30 of the 60 players were invited to attend a selection camp during which the members of Expert Committee Ramesh Krishnan, C.G.K. Bhupathi and others, could observe the players. The 7 players selected were: V. Kamalakannan, R. Arun Prakash, Vikram Aditya Menon, Vijay Sundar Prashant, Samrita Sekar, Preeti Rao and Nandita Chandrasekar. The implementation of the player development programme began in June 2000. Dr. Gopal Ramanathan was in-charge of fitness along with Ramji Srinivasan and the nutrition aspect was taken care of by Dr. Varsha. The coaching camp was held with the accent on developing strong basics. TATE programmed its first trip when Kamalakannan and Arun Prakash were sent along with Arul to play the Indian men's Satellite circuit. The trip was an eye opener to these boys as to what to aim for. In August, they played a number of tournaments conducted in Chennai and Tiruchi, which included MCC-IOB nationals, the Nutrine sub-junior nationals and TNTA 75 ITF juniors. In September, for the first time the 3 girls were taken to participate in the WTF futures at Bangalore. Two of the three qualified in singles, while the third qualified for the doubles draw. Nandita and Samitra put up an impressive show. Also for the first time, they got to play against India's own top players like Sai Jayalakshmi and Rushmi Chakravarthy. After a couple of weeks in Chennai, they were on the road again. In Oct-Nov, they went out on a long trip of seven weeks to Mumbai, Delhi and other places to participate in U-18 and senior events of the DSCL nationals, WTA Futures, ITF Men's futures and other AITA events. During the same period, Arun Prakash and Kamalakannan played in futures events at Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai. So far, they have been sent out to play almost 15 tournaments in the country and have done well - Kamalakannan got his first ATP point, Arun Prakash won the Nutrine national sub-junior U-16 title and qualified in the satellite events, Nandita Chandrasekar collected 4.75 WTA points, Samrita Sekar 3 WTA points and Preeti Rao 1.75 WTA points. This should enable them to participate in such higher events in future. The players are scheduled to play the international junior and satellite events in the next two months.

During the week of the Gold Flake Open 2001, these players had the benefit of an exclusive coaching camp conducted by Anand Amritraj, India's well known former National champion and Davis Cup player, who reached the Wimbledon Doubles semifinals in 1976. His observations and advise should enable them to elevate their game to a higher level. TATE proposes to conduct such programmes periodically.

The construction of the Nungambakkam Tennis stadium in 1995 conforming to international standard for staging SAF games by the Government of Tamil Nadu has given a shot in the arm of Chennai tennis. Thanks to this well-maintained stadium, the only ATP tournament in the world series in India is being held here for the last four years. This event is managed by International Management Group (IMG) to whom we are deeply indebted. This tournament has given the enthusiastic Chennai audience a great opportunity to witness players like Boris Becker, Krajcek. Pat Rafter, Kafelnikov, Moya, Pioline and of course our Leander and Mahesh.

I feel most proud to state that Leander and Mahesh started their winning spree in doubles in this stadium in 1997 and went on to become world champions.

The Platinum Jubilee committee headed by Mr. N. Venkataramani had charted out a series of events to celebrate the landmark. The celebration began with the felicitation of Leander and Mahesh with the presentation of specially made mementos in January 2000. Other events conducted were: The TNTA 75 ITF Men's futures tournament, the two regularly held nationals - IOB-MCC under 18 and the Nutrine under 14 & 16, and an International ITF junior tournament and sale of specially made Platinum Jubilee memorabilia.

The fitting finale to the celebration was the felicitation of the nine Davis Cup players and the three Federation Cup players from Tamil Nadu and the release of an exclusive commemorative souvenir during the GFO 2001.

TNTA has been fortunate to get solid support from eminent corporate and business houses in the city and outside such as India Pistons, Murugappa Group, The Hindu, India Cements and Sanmar Group. To implement its development programme and produce world class players, TNTA requires and looks forward to more such support from many others. TNTA also acknowledges all the support provided by the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and the All India Tennis Association.

TNTA is specially indebted to IOB and Nutrine for regularly sponsoring the National events. TNTA takes this opportunity to thank all the press and other media - AIR, Doordarshan, etc., councillors past and present, all clubs, district associations and all others connected with the development of the Association and growth of tennis.

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