Thursday, September 11, 2008

Is the Indian Tennis League on?

Back in May, AITA secretary Anil Khanna announced plans for an Indian Tennis League. An inter-city competition on the lines of the ICL and the IPL, this was supposed to feature tennis greats from the days gone by - Boris Becker, Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg, Goran Ivanisevic and company.

Although I am not a huge fan of Khanna, I have to admit that this was a brilliant and highly original concoction – the inter-city format might not be a new idea but the ploy to get veterans involved is masterly.

My generation grew up on a regular dose of these players and all of them are almost household names in middle-class India – the class which couldn’t see them in flesh and blood when they were at their peak but would surely love a chance to do so now. Moreover with the packed tennis calendar it is impossible to get hold of the current players for a six –week period. No such problems with the veterans.

But now I have serious concerns whether the original thought will be followed by efficient execution on part of the Tennis federation. There have been no subsequent announcements (unless Google failed to take note of it) and the AITA website also fails to offer any information on the proposed ITL.

Does anybody have any clue – is the Indian Tennis League really on?



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