The ATP Chennai Open has been cancelled after 21 years following a lack of sponsorship.
In a statement, the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association confirmed that the global management company IMG-Reliance said that they will not be funding the Chennai Tournament in 2018 and 2019. The company was responsible for the running of the tournament.
“We would like to thank everyone in Tamil Nadu, especially our innumerable fans, the Tamil Nadu government and the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association for making the Chennai Open such a grand success,” IMG-Reliance’s spokesperson said.
The ATP 250 tournament will be moved to Pune in India, located over 1000 km away from Chennai. It will be renamed the Maharashtra Open and is likely to be staged at the Balewadi Sports Complex. The venue where India played their Davis Cup tie against New Zealand earlier this year. It is reported by Sportskeeda that IMG considered moving the event to Singapore before opting to stay in India.
“We welcome the world class ATP tournament to our state,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. “We are happy to host the Maharashtra Open and sure that we will take it to newer heights by bringing in an elite field every year.”
Recent winners of the Chennai Open are Milos Raonic, Janko Tipsarevic and Stan Wawrinka. In the final edition this year, Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Daniil Medvedev to win the title.
Concerns raised
The relocation of the tournament has sparked concerns from some members of the Indian tennis community. It has been pointed out that the climate during the Chennai Open is similar to that of the Australian Open. Making it a solid place to practice ahead of the grand slam tournament. Former doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi told The Times of India that the relocation of the event to Pune will not be the same for players due to its climate.
“Chennai was the perfect practice tournament before the first Grand Slam. Chennai’s climate is very similar to that of Australia and after a year-end break, it was the perfect opportunity for players to get used to the weather. Most top stars who Chennai Open had been Europeans and Chennai was the ideal stopover for them en route to Australia,” he said.
Bhupathi’s comments have also been echoed by Anand Amritraj, the former Indian Davis Cup captain.
“We have played Davis Cup in Pune earlier this year and I can say that the stadium is beautiful and I am sure it will be a great tournament. But Pune will not have the advantage that Chennai had because of its climate. Pune is quite cold in the beginning of January. Also the tennis stadium in Pune is a few kilometres away from the city which means the players will spend more time travelling,” he added.
The inaugural Maharashtra Open is set to take place in the first week of the new year.
