Tennis in Chennai

Chennai has always held an important position in the Tennis scenario of India. Indian tennis owes a lot to Chennai. The city has produced many world class tennis players and hosts the only ATP tournament to be held in India. Inspired by the success of Ramesh Krishnan and Vijay Amritaraj, thousands of youngsters today dream of making it big in the international arena. Chennai has no dearth of talent and potential when it comes to the game. There are as many as fifteen coaching centers in Chennai, not taking into account the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association's coaching scheme.

History of tennis in Chennai goes back to a long way. After the very first Wimbledon Championships in 1877, tennis started gaining popularity across the world. The British colonies, especially, were really appealed by the grace of the game and the first tennis courts started appearing in Chennai roughly six years after the first Championships. As early as 1883, four tennis courts were laid in Madras Cricket Club. In 1887, MCC took the lead in organizing the first Lawn Tennis tournament in South India. It had ladies' events also and the prizes to players were all in cash.

Tennis is a very popular game in Chennai. The SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam has the seating capacity of about 6,000 spectators and features five synthetic surface courts. The stadium also hosts an ATP event, the Chennai Open. The tournament was awarded the title of the best new event in its second year by the Association of Tennis Professionals. Indian tennis professionals such as Vijay Amritraj, Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan and Mahesh Chapatti belong to Chennai and Leander Paes was trained in Chennai.

TNTA or Tamil Nadu Tennis Association has always played perhaps the most important role in popularizing the game and taking it to the mass level. Apart from conducting and administering tournaments in regional, national and international levels, the present activities of TNTA includes running tennis coaching schools at MRC Stadium, SDAT Tennis Stadium and UIIC TNTA Coaching School. TNTA co-ordinates with All India Tennis Association, SDAT and other bodies. Its other activities include presenting annual awards to potentially talented players in various age groups and conducting clinics and examinations for umpires and officials.

Hotels in Chennai (Madras)
Hotel Taj Connemara	Hotel GRT Grand
Hotel Green Park	Hotel Ambassador Pallava
Hotel Quality Inn Sabari	Hotel Radha Park Inn