Chennai: The Premier Tennis League that begins at Pune from January 19 will have a strong Tamil Nadu flavour. The IPL-style league recently added one more team to the existing five and as many as five players from TN are representing various franchisees in the forthcoming edition. Latest sensation Ramkumar Ramanathan, who made waves at the recently-concluded Chennai Open by upsetting India no.1 Somdev Devvarman, will turn out for the new franchisee Vibrant Volleyers along with his state-mate Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.
N. Sriram Balaji has been retained by Accurate Aces, while Mohit Mayur and N. Vijay Sundar Prashant will continue to play for Dazzling Deuces.
With five Davis Cup players and four Fed Cup players in the ranks, the PTL is expected to be very competitive. Known as Maharashtra Tennis League in its first edition last year, the league has been rechristened as the PTL. It has acquired a national status with top line players from across the country participating. Accurate Aces are the defending champions.
Holders Accurate Aces will play against Dazzling Deuces, Baseline Bombers will take on Mumbai Blasters and debutants Vibrant Volleyers will clash against Sharp Smashers on the first day of competition. A tie involves one women’s singles, two men’s singles, one men’s doubles and one mixed doubles matches.
Franchises and players: Accurate Aces (RBX SportsEthix): Sriram Balaji ('1,20,000), Baseline Bombers (Icon Group, Cummins Group) Saketh Myneni '1,81,500 (retained player), Dazzling Deuces (Goyal Properties and Mittal Brothers) Mohit Mayur and Vijay Sunder Prashant ('1,10,000, retained players), Mumbai Blasters (Sportiff India PVT LTD) Sanam Singh ('1,81,500, retained player), Sharp Smashers (Pradeep Chordia) Vishnu Vardhan ('1,45,000) Vibrant Volleyers (Navjeevan Constructions): R Ramkumar and N Jeevan ('1,10,000 each).
Senhadevi ready for Oz Open
Snehadevi Reddy, India’s no.1 junior tennis player, is all set for her maiden junior grand slam appearance at the Australian Open starting on January 18. She will be accompanied by her Suresh Kumar who is a ITF Grade 3 coach. Before the big event, she will play in the AGL Loy Yang Traralgon junior international (ITF Grade I) at Victoria. The Tamil Nadu girl, is currently ranked 59th in the world, is the current Asian junior champion. Sneha’s trip is funded by Sports Authority of India and Tamil Nadu Tennis Association.
ITF award for Krishnans
Tamil Nadu tennis icons Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, Anand Amritraj will be presented with Davis Cup Commitment awards instituted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as a part of the centenary celebrations at Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association on April 6.
The award will presented by former union minister and AITA lifetime president, Yashwant Sinha. Seventy six-year-old Ramanathan Krishnan had a 23-year-long career in Davis Cup from 1953, during which he competed in 44 ties for an overall win-loss record of 69-28, including 50-19 in singles.
