TENNIS | Fenesta Nationals from today with old hands Vishnu Vardhan and Manish still in the mix

Two former national champions Vishnu Vardhan and Manish Sureshkumar, ideally positioned in two different halves, are capable of beating anyone in the men’s draw in the Fenesta National tennis that starts at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.

The fortnight-long event will see competition for men, women, under-18, 16 and 14 age groups for boys and girls.

It looks as if yesterday when the unseeded Syed Fazaluddin stormed through a strong field to win the men’s title on the grass courts at the venue, when the tournament was called the Shriram Open in the early 1990s. And later, when an exception was made for Sania Mirza to let her play the women’s event when she was below 14 years of age in 2000.

Over the years, many champions like Yuki Bhambri have gone on to make the big strides in world tennis.

Except during the renovation of DLTA for the Commonwealth Games, and later the pandemic, the tournament, elevated as the National championship, has been organised consistently over the years. 

It will be an interesting challenge for the likes of top seed Nitin Kumar Sinha, Prajwal Dev, Ishaque Eqbal, Suraj Prabodh and Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam to try to be the new champion.

In the women’s section, it will be an excellent opportunity for Vaishnavi Adkar, Akanksha Nitture, and Pooja Ingale in particular, to brighten their career with a good run.

The seedings: Men: 1. Nitin Kumar Sinha, 2. Prajwal Dev, 3. Vishnu Vardhan, 4. Ishaque Eqbal, 5. Parth Aggarwal, 6. Oges Theyjo, 7. Ajay Malik, 8. Udit Kamboj.