Indian gamers Sumit Nagal and Arjun Kadhe have been on Friday awarded wildcards within the singles and doubles foremost draw respectively on the fifth version of the Tata Open Maharashtra as South Asia’s solely ATP 250 occasion begins on the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Nagal is the second wild card entrant within the singles foremost draw after Mukund Sasikumar. Nagal featured within the French Open and US Open qualifiers earlier this 12 months and likewise reached the quarter-finals of ATP Challenger occasion in Germany in August. The singles discipline will witness 17 top-100 gamers together with the World No. 17 Marin Cilic.
“That is the happiest week [of year] for Indian tennis gamers as a result of it’s the greatest tennis match we’ve got in India and all of us get an opportunity to play. Thanks everybody for giving me the chance to play right here,” Nagal expressed his pleasure.
Pune-born Kadhe will play alongside Brazil’s Fernando Romboli. Enjoying collectively, the duo completed runners-up on the ATP Challenger occasion in Turkey in September.
“I strongly really feel a match of this magnitude is solely not attainable with out robust authorities assist and we’re lucky sufficient to get that assist. Final 12 months’s match was effectively appreciated by the ATP as we carried out it with none points regardless of Covid challenges. We’ve among the finest fields this 12 months and plenty of gamers have determined to come back repeatedly to Pune and it’s changing into their favorite vacation spot. We continue to grow this match yearly,” stated Prashant Sutar, Event Director of Tata Open Maharashtra and Chairman of Maharashtra State Garden Tennis Affiliation.
“It’s all the time pleasing to see Indians getting wildcards as one of many objectives of internet hosting this match is to encourage Indian participation as a result of that contributes to the expansion of tennis within the nation. Watching our native gamers combat towards prime gamers from internationally motivates many kids to take up the game. I’m certain each Nagal and Sasikumar will make the most of this and produce good performances,” stated Sunder Iyer, Joint Secretary of All India Tennis Affiliation and Secretary of Maharashtra State Garden Tennis Affiliation.
Three-time Grand Slam champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, and two-time champion Bopanna will probably be among the many key points of interest in doubles.
The Tata Open Maharashtra will probably be organised by the Maharashtra State Garden Tennis Affiliation in affiliation with the Authorities of Maharashtra for the fifth 12 months in Pune.
The announcement was made on the press convention held in Pune on Friday within the presence of Saurabh Rao, IAS, Divisional Commissioner of Pune, Vikram Kumar, IAS, Commissioner, PMC, Suhas Diwase, IAS, Commissioner, Sports activities, Govt of Maharashtra, Prashant Sutar, Event Director and Chairman of MSLTA and Sunder Iyer, Secretary of MSLTA and Joint Secretary of All India Tennis Affiliation together with Nagal and Sasikumar.
The Tata Open Maharashtra is owned by IMG and managed by RISE Worldwide and sponsored by Tata Motors. Entry will probably be free for the qualifying rounds.
The qualifiers will happen on Saturday and Sunday whereas the principle draw will probably be performed from January 2-7.