Chennai: There is speculation about the participation of the hero of Indian tennis Leander Paes while his compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi has been drawn already, but the venue Nungambakkam Stadium is already abuzz as South Asia’s only ATP world tour tennis championship event, the Chennai Open gets underway here today with the qualifying round matches.
However, Leander is already in Chennai and was scheduled to practice on the centre court from 2000 hrs. That gave hope to fans here that he would sign in for the doubls. But who his partner would be this year was not immediately known.
As the players, including those competing to get an entry into the main draw through the qualifying rounds, are trickling in after celebrating the advent of the New Year, the stadium courts as well as other facilities have been renovated, this being the 20th edition of the competition.
The event, which began in New Delhi as McDowell Open, has taken different brand names with sponsors changing. ITC took over from McDowell with the shifting of the venue to cradle of Indian tennis Chennai under the aegis of former tennis ace Vijay Amritraj who hails from here. It was held as Gold Flake Open and then Tata Open before switching to the present brand name with a consortium of sponsors headed by telecom company Aircel.
The 2015 edition will kick off with the draw ceremony tomorrow to decided the contestants for the main draw that begins on January 5. U. (UNI)
