Talk about tennis in Coimbatore and the one thing that will strike your mind is the 1975 Davis Cup clash between India and South Korea.
Four decades have rolled by since but the City continues to harp on the past glory of the big game.
The ongoing LMW-sponsored $10,000 ITF Futures tournament for men has given a fresh lease of life to the sport in this part of the region which has produced stars such as Elangovan Ranganathan, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, K.G. brothers Ramesh and Suresh, Manoj Kumar, Karthikeyan, K.V.Ganesh, Sudhanwa Sitaram, Vigneshwaran, Roma Chandiran,Swetha Hari and Sriram Balaji to name a few.
It has attracted prominent Indian players like Ramkumar Ramanathan, Vijay Sundar Prashanth, Vishnu Vardhan, Sumit Nagal apart from players from China, Russia, Spain, Kazakhstan and Philippines.
The ITF Futures is the stepping stone for starting out on the ATP world tennis circuit. It enables players to earn valuable ATP points which will help them gain entry into bigger tournaments, especially for the Indian players.
The tournament is here for the third time in four years and the credit must certainly go to Pro Serve Tennis Academy and the Coimbatore District Tennis Association (CDTA).
But is the CDTA really happy with a one-off event such as the Futures? “Not really. We want bigger events but sponsors, barring a few, are not forthcoming,” says Jayakumar Ramdass, the CDTA president.
“We are trying our best to market these events for the betterment of the sport,” he said.
Manoj Kumar, Director, Pro Serve, feels it can be better and bigger if infrastructure is in place. He thanked Lakshmi Machine Works, the title sponsor for the ongoing event, for the support.
“As this event is of international status, we are happy to be associated to give more visibility to Coimbatore globally and to encourage the players in particular,” said P. Ananthan, LMW's Senior General Manager, Liaison and Administration
There are a host of other sponsors too but the CDTA requires a stronger financial support to make it even better for the sport.
