For a city that considers itself the soul of the sport in the country, five and a half years is a long time without big-ticket tennis. The Tamil Nadu capital witnessed its last tour-level event in 2017 – the ATP Chennai Open – snapping a golden run of 21 straight years of high-quality action.
This drought is set to end when the WTA Chennai Open gets underway at the SDAT Tennis Stadium on Monday.
“It was important to get the buzz back into the city,” said Vijay Amritraj, Indian tennis legend and president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, the host of the event. “It was critical that we showed the girls that we cared for them too. To give them the opportunity to get better.”
