52 players, zero matches: ITF rules hit Indians hard

With India hosting lesser events on the restructured calendar, the country’s tennis players have found opportunities hard to come by

N Vijay Sundar Prashanth, India player

CHENNAI : After  not playing a competitive tennis match in nearly five months, Suraj R Prabodh took to the courts on Tuesday. Given it was his first match in a long time, it was natural that he did not get the result he wanted, going down to Burundi’s Gur Orly Iradukunda in straight sets in the first round of an ITF World Tour event in Abuja (25k). The 24-year-old is one of the handful of lucky Indians to have experienced competitive tennis on the ITF’s restructured Tour this year.

The numbers make for grim re­ading. There are 76 Indian men’s singles players wi­th an official ranking on the ITF Wo­rld Tennis Tour. Out of that, two, Saketh Myneni and Sa­­­si Ku­mar Mukund, ne­­edn’t play he­re as their ATP ra­­nking is go­od enough to earn th­­­em entries on the Challenger circuit. From the remaining 74, only 22 have played on the ITF World Tour, known as the Transition Tour, this year. The other 52 are yet to play competitively in mo­re than 100 days. Indian men’s singles players could soon become an endangered species.

A recap. Last year, the International Tennis Federation announced wide-ranging measu­res to restructure professional te­­nnis at the lowest levels. Fut­ures were replaced with Trans­ition Tour events ($15k & $25k meets). ITF did this because “(...) while over 14000 pl­ayers compete each year in professi­onal tournaments, only around 350 men and 250 women break even financially without consideration of coaching costs. 

“(...) structure is expected to re­duce the number of professi­o­nal players with ATP and W­TA rankings from 3000 playe­rs to approximately 750 men a­nd 750 women.” Transition To­­ur events would not have ATP ranking points but something called ITF Entry Points. 

The problem among women’s singles players is less pronounced because WTA ranking points is on offer for $25000 meets. The immediate fallout has been a drop in the number of $15000 and $25000 events. With draw sizes also down by a significant percentage and cuts for Challenger tournaments in the high 300s, a player ranked in the low 300 has had no other option but to play Transition Tour meets. 

“When that happens, you will automatically find that players who are ranked even 500 may not get to play,” Arjun Kadhe, who is the third seed in the Transition Tour event in Abuja, told this daily. That’s what’s been happening to the Indians. While the new rules have been panned across the board — a Romanian player Maria Patrascu has even launched a petition on change.org urging ITF to roll back the new regulations — it assumes greater significance to Indians because of lack of Transition Tour meets in India. 

In the nine years from 2010, India held 91 Futures meets. Apart from offering ATP ranking points, it allowed fringe Indian players to keep costs to a minimum. In the first three months of 2019, the country has held zero Transition Tour meets. And it’s likely to stay that way because sponsors don’t want to come on board for an event without ATP ranking points. This much was made clear by a All India Tennis Association (AITA) official.

N Vijay Sundar Prashanth, one of the few Indians who has played multiple Transition Tour meets, fails to understand how this will make it any easier. “The ITF told us that this system will make it easier for players... I just fail to see how,” he said. He believes that the entire tennis ecosystem might fall because of the new rules. “I have had to field calls from line umpires in India who have been out of jobs because of a lack in tournaments here.” 

It has also placed an enorm­ous financial burden. Take the case of Vasisht Cheruku, No 1211 on the ITF ranking list. Since the start of the year, he has taken part in $15k events six times across three countr­ies (Spain, Tunisia & Egypt), but without success. He’s yet to play in the main dr­aw this year. Now, one might po­int towards his recent record to pa­int a picture but the only way the 19-year-old can graduate to the Challenger circuit is to ha­ve a high ITF ranking (five sp­o­ts are reserved for high-ran­ki­ng ITF players). So, even if he fa­­­­­­­ils, he will have to keep trying. The scary bit is that that avenue may not even be open for most of the other 52.