The last quarter in the tennis calendar is going to be an exciting one for Indian tennis, with the WTA 250 Chennai Open coming back for tis second edition after a three-year hiatus, and the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs being held in the country for the first time in Bengaluru. It was Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), which also hosts the biggest ATP Challenger event in the country, that made and successfully won the bid to host one of the seven groups in the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs. We caught up with Mr. Sunil Yajaman, the Joint Secretary of KSLTA, to talk about Bengaluru’s winning bid, the performance of the Indian team during the regionals in Pune, as well as KSLTA’s plans to push Indian tennis ahead.
Indian Tennis Daily: Hi Sir. Thank you for talking to us. Firstly, we wanted to get your thoughts about Bengaluru winning the rights to host the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs in November.
Sunil Yajaman: We’re quite excited. Bengaluru and KSLTA are quite excited to get this prestigious event. And it’s the first time that Bengaluru will be having hosting the Billie Jean King Cup. We’ve been hosts to every other tournament, including Davis Cup, but not the Billie Jean King Cup. I think it’s a great opportunity for us to have this event. And also, I think it’s a tribute to the wonderful performance that our girls have shown in Pune by qualifying for the playoffs. They inspired us to go out there and bid for this event and get it for India. So we are extremely happy to have this.
Indian Tennis Daily: Can you tell our readers what goes on behind the scenes to get the rights to host such a prestigious event?
Sunil Yajaman: Well, all that we had to do was to fill up a questionnaire, apply and make a bid. We made a nice presentation on how we could host this event here and things like that. What we hear from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) is for the seven groups, for the seven venues, there were about 13 or 14 applications. The ITF has their own ways of deciding who it is. That I’m not aware of. But yes, we applied, we pushed and we discussed with ITF and we are so happy that we have it here.
Indian Tennis Daily: Moving on to the group that India is in. We are placed along side Netherlands and Slovenia. What do you think our India’s chances to move ahead in the competition?
Sunil Yajaman: These team events are always a different platform compared to the open events, the tour or the challenger events. We are happy to invite and welcome Netherlands and Slovenia to Bengaluru. The team competition doesn’t always depend on the rankings.
I’m sure it’s going to be a very interesting tie and keenly-contested rubbers. And our girls are on high on confidence, having done well to qualify for the playoffs. And I’m sure they’re carry that confidence and we’ll be able to put up a great performance. I think this is the best opportunity for India to move into the qualifiers from this group.
Indian Tennis Daily: It’s been a good time for Indian tennis fans this year. We have the WTA 250 coming back in Chennai, this is the second time the Billie Jean King Cup will be held as well as the multiple ATP Challenger and ITF events being held across the country. Can tennis fans in India expect this kind of momentum to continue in the years to come?
Sunil Yajaman: What happens is, it’s like a chicken and egg situation. We have these girls who are doing pretty well and they are very, very promising. They’re all young and they’re out there on the tour. We have about seven to eight girls who are playing in the ITF and the WTA circuit. I think they’ve all shown that they have the promise. They have shown that they have the skill and the temperament that’s required to move up the international rankings. So what happens is when they’re there and it just inspires the whole system. It encourages and motivates the whole system to get behind them and try to do something. It’s amazing that Chennai has got the WTA 250 back. It’s going to be an unbelievable event, I’m sure and it’s a wonderful opportunity for these girls.
And two weeks after, they’re going to be playing here in Bangalore. So I think the girls will all be there together, play the Chennai tournament and then probably would be able to come and train in Bangalore because it’s a high altitude place and they need a little more preparation. I think all these are going to happen. Pune did an amazing job of hosting the Belgian King Cup regionals and the Indian team really did well there. That just motivates the whole system. And that’s what inspired us to go after the Belgian King Cup playoffs and try and host it in Bangalore. It’s only for this wonderful Indian team, a bunch of young players that we have.
Indian Tennis Daily: One final question on the KSLTA side. Besides the Billie Jean King Cup, what are the other initiatives or programmes that your team is working on that you can share with us?
Sunil Yajaman: In 2025, for the first time, we took over an ITF $100,000 tournament for women, which we hope we will continue in Bangalore. And we obviously have the ATP Challenger coming back. Apart from these two, we will keep hosting the ITF World Tour Tournaments because that’s also important for most of our players to get the valuable points and improve their ranking.
Many of our junior boys are starting to do well. I think they need a lot more opportunities. They need a system where they can reach up to 200 or 250 in the rankings by just playing within India and then be able to travel out. Then, they will be able to save some money and travel out for the bigger tournaments. I think it’s important that we have an ecosystem where we are able to produce players to reach top 250 or top 200 just by playing in India without having to spend much money. I think on that front, we will continue to do whatever we are doing.
And at KSLTA, we have an exciting thing coming ahead. We are trying to work on our new tennis stadium. We hope that we will be able to build a state-of-the-art tennis stadium within the next 4-5 years. The government has been kind enough to allow the land for us. So while this existing tennis stadium will continue, I think India needs a state-of-the-art tennis complex where bigger events can be held and make Bengaluru a regular annual destination on the ATP or the WTA and be able to host a few more bigger events and also provide an opportunity where this is going to be a base for all the players to come and train with everything that’s required for them.