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Chennai, December 22, 2014: Adding more firepower to the lineup of leading players who will converge in Chennai for the 2015 edition of the Aircel Chennai Open, the organizers today announced that India’s top tennis players Mahesh Bhupathi, Saketh Myneni, Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan have been granted Wild Cards into the doubles draw of the tournament’s 20th edition.
Other than offering fans an opportunity to watch top Indian players at the event, India’s premier and South Asia’s only ATP World Tour event will present an exceptional assembly of talent that includes four top-25 players and three 2014 ATP World Tour Award winners. The organizers announced earlier that ace Indian players Somdev Devvarman and Ramkumar Ramanathan have been granted singles wild card entries.
Fans will witness India’s top Doubles Specialist Mahesh Bhupathi partnering 27-year-old Saketh Myneni for the first time at the Aircel Chennai Open. The participation will mark the tennis greats’ return to courts after March 2014, when he played in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami with Kevin Anderson. Bhupathi, who has won a staggering 52 career doubles titles, will look at the Aircel Chennai Open as a platform to kick-start the new year on a winning note. With earlier partner Leander Paes, he won the 2011 Aircel Chennai Open title when India’s most famous doubles pair reunited on the professional tour at the start of the 2011 season after a gap of nine years, to win a record fifth title in the event. Talented Saketh Myneni attained a career high doubles ranking of World No.154 last month. He made his Indian Davis Cup debut at the 2014 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I Tie with Chinese Taipei, where he partnered Rohan Bopanna in the doubles. Myneni won Gold & Silver medals at Incheon Asian Games 2014 in Mixed doubles & Men's doubles, where he partnered with Sania Mirza and Sanam Singh respectively.
N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan from Tamil Nadu receive support from TNTA and are coming together for the third time to play doubles at the Aircel Chennai Open. Balaji, who achieved a career high doubles ranking of Word No.211 this year made his ATP main draw debut at the 2012 Aircel Chennai Open in the doubles event, partnering Nedunchezhiyan. The wildcard pairing put up a good fight, but lost to the second seeds Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram. Nedunchezhiyan, among Tamil Nadu’s top ranking tennis players, also achieved a career high singles & doubles ranking of 293 & 242 respectively this year, and continues to participate in tournaments around the world.
Mr. Karti P Chidambaram, Chairman, Tournament Organising Committee, Aircel Chennai Open and Vice President, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association said, “We are glad to grant wild cards to the prolific Mahesh Bhupathi and also to young players Saketh Myneni, Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan who have been playing impressively this year in India and abroad. The players will empower the Indian contingent in the doubles draw of the tournament’s 20th edition and I’m sure fans will be thrilled to hear the news. We are happy to have an impressive gathering of good Indian talent and are hopeful they will do very well.”
Ashu Jindal, Chief Operating Officer, IMG Reliance said, “The entries are a significant recognition of the talent the players possess and we are delighted to award wild cards to Mahesh Bhupathi, Saketh Myneni, Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. I’m certain the 20th edition of the Aircel Chennai Open will be an extravaganza like never before. With Wild Cards being granted to India’s finest players in the Doubles draw, the line-up has become stronger and better!”
Cutting off at 95, the strong player field for the region’s most exciting and hard fought tennis tournament will witness some of the world’s most exciting names in tennis converging in India. These include thrilling talent such as World No. 4 and Defending Singles Champion Stan Wawrinka, World No. 14 Feliciano Lopez and World No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut, and World No. 22 David Goffin. Other leading players who will add excitement to the event include Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Marcel Granollers, Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu and 2014 finalist Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
The Title Sponsor for the tournament is Aircel and the event is supported by a consortium of sponsors in the Platinum category, headed by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
About Aircel Chennai Open 2015
The USD 450,000 Aircel Chennai Open, owned by IMG and operated and organised by IMG Reliance, is India's and South Asia's only ATP World Tour event. Started in 1996, by IMG, a global leader in sports management and marketing, the event has completed 20 successful years of existence, branding Chennai and India on the global tennis map thus creating a legacy of sorts of promoting international tennis in India. Winner of the prestigious ATP's Player Services Award of Excellence (2006) for its outstanding organization and wonderful hospitality towards the participants and ATP's Best Marketing Award (2008), the tournament has acquired the status of a much sought-after tennis event for both players and fans alike in the International tennis circuit. The 20th edition of the event in India and 19th in Chennai will be held from 5th – 11th January, 2015 at the SDAT Tennis stadium in Nungambakkam, Chennai. The tournament is conducted in Chennai with the active collaboration of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) and Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA).
