Tamil Nadu Tennis Association turns 100 with tournaments, and a fashion show

Vijay Amritraj has still got the moves. At the centenary celebrations of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) earlier this week, the 71-year-old walked the ramp — albeit briefly — with tennis players Amina Anshba, Eden Silva, Rutuja Bhonsle, and Maria Timofeeva, as well as model and author Shvetha Jaishankar, who was also the show producer. “I walk the ramp a lot, especially upwards...on a staircase,” laughs Vijay, president, TNTA.

The fashion show, by Titan, had models showcasing saris by Taneira, and jewellery (a few tennis-inspired pieces featuring racquets and balls) by Mia by Tanishq and Tanishq. The event at the ITC Grand Chola, also saw the launch of a coffee table book titled A Century of Championing Tennis in Tamil Nadu, with classic pictures and reports from the world of this racquet sport. A lot of these, Vijay mentions, were sourced from The Hindu’s archives. For Vijay, the highlight of the evening was having the whole Krishnan familythere while Ramanathan Krishnan and he cut a cake together celebrating the landmark occasion. “It brought back great memories of playing with him,” says Vijay.

This year also marks the return of the Chennai Open after a hiatus of three years. In February, the ATP Challenger 100 Men’s International Tennis Championship took place here and now the WTA 250 is underway. In the build up to its 100th year, TNTA has been organising tournaments across the State on a regular basis, in districts, towns, and cities.

“Tennis in Tamil Nadu is huge and it is the leader pretty much all over the country, in terms of what we do for tennis,” says Vijay. This State has, after all, produced champions like Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, Vijay and Anand Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman, Lakshmi Mahadevan, the Asian champion of the time, and Nirupama Sanjeev, who was the first Indian woman to win a round at the Grand Slam in the open era, among others.

While tennis is a sport that is being taken up by a lot of people, will the popularity of newer games like pickleball, affect that? “You have to look at the spectrum of people and the age group. All of them who are not playing a sport should play. If there are more sports on offer, then you have better options to choose from,” says Vijay, adding, “Pickleball is easier to pick up than tennis; you need to have a lot more hand-eye coordination for tennis. Pickleball is a fun sport to play but you have to be very careful about injuries.”

With the storm clouds clearing up, and the WTA 250 games back on track, Vijay and the team at TNTA are visibly pleased with this fitting finale to the year.