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India’s top singles player Yuki Bhambri will be the top seed entrant in the Bengaluru leg of the ATP Air Asia Open, which will begin in the city on 19th October. Joining him in the top three are Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (world number 137) and Great Britain's James Ward (157) in second and third place respectively.
The other Indians vying for the $50,000 prize in the singles draw are Somdev Devvarman, Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vijay Sunder Prashant. Bhambri will make the top 100 rankings by the onset of the tournament, according to NDTV.
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The event will be the first ATP contest held in Bengaluru in twelve years. Additional Commissioner of Police and Treasurer of Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) BNS Reddy speaking on the event, said, “The Air Asia Open offers the Indian players a platform to climb up the International ladder. It will be a well contested tournament with six Indians in the main draw.”
Mysurean and Karnataka's top player Suraj Prabodh was announced as a wild card entrant in the tournament, by KSLTA Joint Secretary Ramaswamy. Speaking on their involvement in the event, Commercial Director of Air Asia India, Gaurav Rathore had the following to say, “Sports is a constant vertical that Air Asia has been supporting and is passionate about for a very long time with a single-minded objective of being out there where the action is.”
The officials overseeing the event will be Sunil Yajaman as Director and Italian Robero Raniera as ATP Supervisor. Speaking on the importance of the event from a global perspective, AITA Joint Secretary Sunder Raju said, “ATP Challenger takes our players one step closer to the ATP Tour and hopefully, we would see some top 50 players emerging out of our country soon.”
Bhambri is a former Junior #1 and the first Indian to win the junior Australian open, claiming the title in 2009. He also won a silver medal in the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics.
