Indian tennis players must concentrate on the Challengers at the moment and will be better off playing regularly at home than going overseas, the country’s former star Vijay Amritraj suggested on Thursday.
Amritraj, who beat legends such as Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Rod Laver in his heyday, spoke to PTI ahead of next week’s Chennai Open Challenger.
He said the tournament gives the Indian players a great opportunity to earn ranking points.
“It’s give them an opportunity. If you don’t get the opportunity, you can’t even try. You’re better off playing in India than going somewhere else to get points. The cost, competition and home turf — all these things matter,” Amritraj said.
“For us (Indians), we don’t need to stretch that far. First, we need to get into a tournament. If we can’t get into the Challengers, no point talking about Grand Slams.
“You expect someone like Sumit (Nagal) and Mukund (Sasikumar) to perform better than he could have fared overseas. So, localised tournaments at this level do matter,” he added.
The Challenger tournament is the stepping stone to the ATP Tour, while the 250 tournaments are the lowest tier of annual men’s tennis tournaments on the main ATP Tour.
Nagal is the only player to have got a direct entry into the main draw of the tournament thanks to his good run of form in recent times, including making the second round of Australian Open.
Amritraj, who is also the president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, believes that the country’s tennis future looks bright though one has to remain patient to taste big success.
“It’s important that we look at the next run of players and see who is going to jump out of the pack. While they will be given all the support, it all comes down to them at the end of the day. They have to work like there is no tomorrow and ensure total commitment.
“But, there’s a risk factor. Practising all you want doesn’t mean you are going to win. You need to have that focus, determination and dedication to continue. It’s a long-term process,” he added.
Highlighting the challenges faced by Indians in the sport, Amritraj said that besides their effort and fitness, they should stick to the process.
“First, it’s their effort. Second is fitness, and this is the ability to stay with the program over some time. We kind of lose that fairly early.
“So, it’s important to get to a point where you can make sure that you can get into the tournament and start winning them.
“The players on the professional tennis tour should aim to be the next (Novak) Djokovic, Roger (Federer) and (Rafael) Nadal. It’s got nothing to do with the surface. You have to be the best you can be to represent us in the Davis Cup or Fed Cup,” Amritraj said.
Besides hosting the Challengers, it was learnt that the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu is trying to bring the ATP 250 tournament back to the state.
However, Amritraj feels that currently, having more Challengers makes sense.
“I think we should have more of the Challengers (for now) because unless you can make it to the Challengers, how will you enter the (ATP) 250s?
“So, you should allow them to play and win points in these tournaments. But, the 250 needs to be a crown jewel for us.”
‘Nearly impossible to do what those three guys did’
Amritraj also praised the incredible achievements of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal in the sport.
“The bar is very high. It’s nearly impossible to do what those three guys did. To get 65-plus (Grand Slam) titles together in one generation is almost unimaginable.”
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