The ranking of the country's No. 1 player, Ankita Raina, has recently mirrored the health of Indian women's tennis.
The 29-year-singles old's ranking has dropped to 363, down from a career high of 160 in March 2020 and 193 last year.
Karman Thandi, Rutuja Bhosale, Riya Bhatia, Sowjanya Bavisetti, and Zeel Desai are among the top players, with scores ranging from 482 to 592.
In this context, the two $25,000 ITF tournaments scheduled to begin on June 18 at the Tennis Project in Gurugram will be a boon for Indian women's tennis.
‘’Almost 50 Indian players will compete in the first week. I expect the second week to be similar,’’ said tournament director Vishaal Uppal.
Uppal, the women's team captain for the Billie Jean King Cup, has been working to expand the talent pool.
‘’Hosting these events is an uphill task. But I am determined to do my bit and help our players. It will be great to see all the top Indian women compete in the same tournament,’’ Uppal said.
Last week, Indian women competed in over ten separate events across Thailand, Europe, and the United States.
‘’I hope, by doing these two events, we will be able to impress upon corporate India the importance of hosting such tournaments for the benefit of our players,’’ Uppal added.
Ankita is expected to be the second seed in the first tournament, with six other Indian players receiving direct entry. Wild cards will be distributed to a greater number of people. Many more people will be able to take advantage of the favourable home conditions during the qualifying event.
Due to the entry of players from Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, the United States, Georgia, and Japan, the field is expected to be much stronger in the second week, with Ankita pushed to the seventh seed. Only three additional Indians were eligible for straight admittance based on their rank.
Hopefully, by then, the Indian players would have become so accustomed to the conditions that they will be directing play against top-tier opponents.
‘’There are some tough players expected from other countries. So, it will be interesting. I hope an Indian can win the title in singles and doubles,’’ added Vishaal.
