Hyderabad: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) announced the conduct of 13 international tournaments in India in the first quarter of the upcoming season.
The 13 international tournaments, scheduled from January to March, includes four ATP Challenger tournaments and a WTA 125 tournament.
All the tournaments will cumulatively offer a combined prize purse of INR 10 crore and 1100 ranking points, according to a media release from the All India Tennis Association.
There will also be three ITF tournaments, for women, that will be played in January 2025.
The first tournament starts in New Delhi on January 13 and it will be a USD 40,000 event. It will soon be followed by an USD 100,000 tournament in Bengaluru from January 20 and the third ITF tournament will be a USD 70,000 tournament that will be held in Pune.
Furthermore, the AITA announced that the second edition of the L&T Mumbai Open will be played in Mumbai from February 3, 2025.
A media release from the AITA read: “These four tournaments will offer over 350 WTA points and a combined prize purse of USD 350000 with a great opportunity for Indian women players to accelerate their growth.”
The AITA said the officials from the WTA, ATP and ITF support India’s quest to hold more tournaments. “The AITA representatives in a recent meeting with the WTA, ATP and ITF officials put forward India’s case for more tournaments. The global leaders readily agreed to support AITA’s endeavour in hosting tournaments for both men and women,” the media release added.
Meanwhile, ATP Challenger tournaments will be played in the month of February in Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune and New Delhi. The dates of the ATP Challenger tournaments will be announced in due course.
The AITA will also play host to one ITF men’s tournament in January and four tournaments in March. The dates and the venues will be announced by AITA soon.
“Overall, the women’s tournaments are worth USD 475000 with 500 WTA ranking points on offer while the men’s tournaments are worth USD 590,000 with 600 ATP ranking points at stake. The AITA team is also involved in discussions to bring at least 24 ITF events (men and women combined) to India and is committed to create a robust ATP Challenger circuit for the men’s players. The AITA team understands the concerns of the players, and the tennis fraternity and is determined to further grow the tennis landscape in India,” the statement from AITA added.
