Indian tennis is on the rise and Wrik Ganguly finds out what factors have made India a place to bring up tennis champions.

Having represented India at several international tournaments, I feel that people should know that all of these factors are now, in fact, becoming much less of a problem for India's tennis aces.

When I first picked up a racket back in 1992, there were only few places in Delhi that provided "world-class" training. Cut to 2009, and there are close to 300 tennis academies in the NCR, most of them equipped with coaches who possess a fair bit of knowledge about the current status of tennis worldwide.

Infrastructure

For me, tennis in India is divided into two eras - the "Pre-Sania" era and the "Post-Sania" era.

The Pre-Sania era was one where no Indian believed it was possible to break in to the international arena given that the so called infrastructure was not up to the mark.

The post-Sania era can be best described as one in which the corporate eye balls suddenly focused on the game. Sania's gradual rise in singles rankings carved the way for the corporate sector to shell out bucks galore in a bid to promote the game within the country.

Suddenly India was just not the place that gave the world doubles champions such as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, but a place where even singles champions could be produced - take a bow Somdev Devvarman and junior Australian Open champion Yuki Bhambri.

First let's take a look as to how the India's tennis infrastructure has developed in the country over the years.

As opposed to yesteryears, the India of today has all the surfaces on which tennis is played worldwide.
Be it the European slow clay courts (the surface for the French Open), or the synthetic surface or the rebound ace (the current surface of the Australian Open), India has it all.

In a flash, the argument of not being able to find an "international" surface can easily be ruled out.
Now let's take a look at the financial aspect.

In times gone by, players would spend a fortune to play international ranking tournaments aboard, but today, thanks to a joint effort between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the All India Tennis Association (AITA), players get 52 weeks of ITF tournaments (which is divided across all age groups) every year.

This massive transition has made travelling relatively cheaper, and thankfully, almost 90% of the academies across India have tie-ups with multinational brands which make buying shoes, clothes and rackets much cheaper.

Affluent backgrounds

The AITA also gives financial scholarships which take care of training oversees and playing tournaments abroad.
Finally, people from affluent backgrounds have also become much wiser in how they spend their money.

Frequent trips to foreign academies have become virtually a thing of the past, with parents now making the smarter choice by hiring full time coaches from the academies.

The coach not only accompanies the player at all times but also takes care of his/or her diet, physical conditioning and mental fitness.

It is, therefore, time that we go beyond complaining about the sorry state of affairs in India and try to make the best of what is available.

If that happens, the ball will definitely be in India's court.