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It is undeniable that sports are a religion in India, 1.27 billion hearts beat in unison every time India is playing at the world stage. Over time, India has embraced many a sport and harboured many an ardent fan, following their favourite sport and sportspersons across the globe.
Tennis is no exception. Brought to India by the British during their rule, Lawn Tennis is one of the most widely followed sports in the country. A closer look often reveals interesting facts such as the number of Fedal fans in India outnumber the number of their own fans in their respective countries combined, although our sheer population explains this endowment.
Sports have always brought Indians closer. The competition, the palpitation and the anticipation of glory has time and time again united us Indians. Moreover, just like the unique face of our cultural identity, Indians take pride in their individuality, and celebrate individual glory with just as much fervour as team sports. Few names come to mind that better illustrate this than Tennis.
The recollection of the grace of Vijay Amritraj, as he beat the legendary Rod Laver and the mercurial Jimmy Connors and Mats Vilander is till date a story our parents and grandparents love telling us, at a time when people followed their matches on the radio. Watching Prakash and Stephen Amritraj play on the ATP circuit make us go back in time and visualise Vijay and Anand Amritraj lethal camaraderie, reaching 2 Davis Cup finals, having forfeited one against the Proteans to decry Apartheid.
We sit on the edge of our seats and leap with joy when Leander Paes at 42 still glorifies the doubles courts. The young blood of Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman now carry the hopes of a billion people.
A pressing query that comes to mind, often, however is:
Why does consistent glory elude us? Can the second largest population in the world not produce a bunch of players in every generation that can challenge for the crown year in year out? Can we not produce players that are out there, returning Federer's class and Nadal's ferocity?
The answers are unclear, and the reasons are many. The one that is clear to us, however, is the dearth of platforms for young players to compete and hone their skills.
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, has pledged to be a part of the process of change. The PDPU Open Tennis championship 2015 is the first event of its kind to be organized on such a large scale by a group of university students in Gujarat, around 200 players from across the country will compete for a total prize money of INR 1, 00,000 in three categories – Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Women’s Singles for a tenure of 6 Days starting 15th of October till 21st October.
Nimit Desai, the chief organiser of POTC and the Captain of the PDPU Tennis team said, "Sports is dynamic, in constant motion. With POTC, we hope to open the floodgates to India's glory in sports - a glory we deserve but have been elusive."
