NEW DELHI: After a gap of a year, tennis tournament Tata Open Maharashtra has announced that it will be back and will be telecasted on Star Sports. This will be the fourth edition of the tournament and will be held at Balewadi Stadium in Pune. The main draw of the tournament will start from today and will continue till February 6.
It is one of the longest running tennis tournaments in Asia and is organized by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association. It will feature internationals such as world number 15 Aslan Karatsev and defending champion Jiri Vesely, who will race for the singles title with seven other top-100 players in the world such as Lorenzo Musetti and Portugal’s all-time best tennis player Joao Sousa.
The tournament is owned by IMG and operated by RISE Worldwide in India.
“We are delighted that such a prestigious tournament is returning to India and will be hosted once again despite the challenges of the pandemic. Continuing the tradition and popularity of this tournament over the years, we are glad that this year too, it will bring a treat for the fans as around 70 top players from 23 countries will be in action. And with the live broadcast, tennis enthusiasts will not miss the thrilling action and can watch it from the comfort of their home,” said tournament director Prashant Sutar.
Star Sports Select Channel and Disney+ Hotstar will be airing the tournament on their networks. For almost 12 years, Star Sports has been telecasting tournaments including the last three editions, sponsored by the Tata Group.
The Indian challenge will be led by Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Arjun Kadhe in singles and three pairs led by Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan in doubles. Despite a strong line-up of international players, they have been given a direct entry into the main draw.
Historically, India’s only ATP event has been attended by the world’s top players such as Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Carlos Moya, Pat Rafter and India’s top cannons like them, Somdev Devvarman, and doubles icons Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. has been seen.
The fourth edition of this tournament is all set to make a comeback after a one-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Open has been organized every year for the last 26 years. Initially it was held in Delhi, then in Chennai when it was renamed as Chennai Open. The championship eventually moved to Pune, Maharashtra in 2018 and rebranded as Maharashtra Open.
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