CHENNAI: Since the 2013 Chennai Open, the All India Tennis Association and Tamil Nadu Tennis Association have been locked in a royalty dispute. The TNTA had said the royalty, then priced at approximately $40,000, was too high since the tournament doesn’t make a profit and struggles to reach projections every year. Finally, the two disputing bodies called a truce in November last year, and the royalty was reduced to a feasible sum.
Speaking to Express, AITA secretary general Hironmoy Chatterjee said: “We resolved the matter a few months back, so there’s no issue now. The royalty has been reduced so that there’s not much burden on them. We’ll sign a fresh MoU soon.”
While TNTA gave a similar response, vice-president Karti Chidambaram is still convinced the money should go to players directly.
“The royalty will be decided upon after the tournament. But players like Yuki (Bhambri), Ramkumar (Ramanathan) and Sumit (Nagal) need the money to have travelling coaches like young foreign players. The AITA should focus more on that,” he opined.
Size not an issue
Now, tennis players are usually known for their fitness. Ten percent body fat or less and you’re in. More and you earn a trip to the nutritionist and 20 rounds every day at the local yard. However, it’s safe to say that Purav Raja did not get the memo. Not that he has to. On Sunday, he played in his third ATP Final.
At a time when frontline Indians have been struggling to string together decent results on Tour, that’s a tremendous achievement. His birth certificate says he is 31, but he looks like the proverbial uncle who forgot to bring his racquet for a ‘Sunday league’ match. Nonetheless, it’s very interesting that at a time when the Davis Cup team has the place for just one doubles specialist, two all-Indian teams (excluding the picked specialist) have reached the Chennai Open final. Previously, this had never happened at the ATP level.
What’s in a name?
The final was largely one-way traffic, with Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut coasting to a win in straight sets. In fact, the most exciting part of the final came some 24 hours earlier. The electronic scoreboard had displayed his name as ‘Agut’ all week, and the World No 14 took exception to it. So he got the name changed on the scoreboard for the final (it said Bautista). “My name is Bautista Agut,” he said at the press conference. “They didn’t put it right but it’s OK.”
According to Spanish naming customs, the first surname is paternal, while the second is maternal, but a lot of Spaniards on Tour have abandoned the last one. Just ask Rafael Nadal Parera!