ATP 250’s absence from the Indian calendar will be felt in more ways than one

India loses its ATP 250 event, leaving tennis legend Vijay Amritraj and doubles star Rohan Bopanna feeling the loss of a "crown jewel" in the sport.

From the turn of the millennium, big-ticket tennis in India during the first week of the year has been a near constant.

But for the Covid-related cancellation in 2021 and the shifting of the dates to early February in 2020 and 2022, either Chennai (18 times) or Pune (five) has ushered in the season ahead of the Australian Open.

The year 2024, however, is the first without the annual dose of top-level tennis in India, with the country’s lone ATP 250 event now replaced by the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open.

The five-year contract the organisers of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune had inked with owners IMG and RISE Worldwide ended with the 2023 edition. A significantly bigger financial outlay as a pre-condition for renewal proved the undoing.

Tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, also the president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), felt that India’s absence from tennis’ global map will take the sheen out of the sport in the country.

“We need a crown jewel,” the 70-year-old told The Hindu. “Not just one in my opinion. We should be able to do two or three and make it like an Indian swing. Chennai has been the home of tennis. There is Kolkata, Maharashtra and a lot of other places who can do it.”

Though the presence of an ATP 250 event in India hasn’t helped improve the standards of men’s singles tennis — Somdev Devvarman remains the last Indian to have reached a singles Tour-level final at home (2009) — doubles star and World No.3 Rohan Bopanna felt that such tournaments can provide a fillip to many a budding career.