Organised under ITF, AITA and MSLTA, the matches will take place from January 21 to 28 at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis hard courts. ( Representational/File)INDIA’S TOP tennis players, Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi, will be seen in action at the 22nd edition of the NECC Deccan ITF $40,000 Women’s Tennis Tournament.
Organised under ITF, AITA and MSLTA, the matches will take place from January 21 to 28 at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis hard courts.
“The annual $25K event has been upgraded into a $40K event under ITF’s initiatives. It is a new format that they have introduced in the tournaments and the necessary arrangements have been made at the Deccan Gymkhana for a successful tournament that prove beneficial to Indian players who have the opportunity to make valuable WTA points,” said Sunder Iyer, joint secretary of AITA.
The women’s tennis tournament started in 2001 as a $5,000 event. In 2009, it was a $50,000 event to mark the 10-year anniversary. From 2010 till 2020, it has been an annual event of $25,000 event. World Ranked 68 Tatjana Maria of Germany, Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan, and Joanne Zuger of Switzerland will lead the seeding list of the tournament and will see athlete representation from 15 countries.
“We have resurfaced five tennis courts and upgraded the floodlighting to ITF standard to provide the best world-class tennis facilities to the players. This year, we also have live streaming of the event on the ITF website,” said Ashwin Girme, tournament director.
The tournament has seen winners in the past like Emma Raducanu, Aryna Sabalenka, Bojana Jovanovski, Magda Linette and Kateryna Bondarenko who all went on to become the top 20 players on the WTA tour.
Apart from Raina and Thandi, the main draw which is primarily dominated by foreign players will soon see four Indian Wildcards in the main draw. The ITF has designated Gold Badge referee Sheetal Iyer, as the supervisor for the tournament.