The three most famous names in Indian tennis: Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj come from Chennai and have all contributed much to keep the city’s tennis tradition alive. India’s first tennis academy The Tennis Clinic was started by CG Krishna Bhupathi in the 1970s, spurred by a desire to train his son, Mahesh. Mahesh Bhupati, with Leander Paes, went on to win three doubles titles including the Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Although The Tennis Clinic has been reborn as the Mahesh Bhupati Tennis Academy in Bangalore, it owes its origins to Chennai.
The Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy (BAT) was a pioneering effort by Vijay Amritraj, who captained and took India into the Davis Cup finals twice. Started in the mid-80s, the BAT has produced reputed players, including Leander Paes, who apart from his eight Grand Slam victories at doubles and mixed doubles events, has won a bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He has also achieved the rare men’s doubles/mixed doubles title in the 1999 Wimbledon.
Ramesh Krishnan playing in a 1985 tournament in Chennai
Ramanathan Krishnan reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles competition at Wimbledon; Ramesh Krishnan won the boy’s singles titles at both Wimbledon and the French Open. He went on to reach three Grand Slam quarter finals in the 1980s, and was India’s Davis Cup captain in 2007. In 1995, the legendary father-son duo started The Krishnan Tennis Center,which offers state-of-the-art facilities and trains players at all levels: beginners, top-ranking juniors, adults and professionals. Chennai has hosted the most important tennis tournament in the country, The Chennai Open, since 1997. It was awarded the Best New Event title in its second year by the Association of Tennis professionals (ATP). Hosted annually in January, it attracts the biggest names in the game; including World No. 17 and Chennai favourite, Carlos Moya and world champion Rafael Nadal. The tournament which carries a total prize money of US $450000 is played over five synthetic surface courts and gets about 6000 tennis aficionados queuing up.