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Lawn tennis is a challenging, power-packed sport that demands exceptional talent and years of practice. The fascinating sport graced Mysuru in the form of an ITF event, which was held at Mysuru Tennis Club in Chamarajapuram. Mysuru last hosted an ITF competition eight years ago, and the popularity of lawn tennis has only grown in the city since then.
The ITF Mysuru Open was held on March 27, 2023, with the prize being a whopping $25,000. The tournament was a huge success and received compliments from all around the world.
Sportskeeda's Business of Sports got an exciting opportunity to have a chat with ITF Tournament Director Mr. Peter Vijay. A former professional tennis player with a host of achievements under his belt, he was in the top five rankings in the country for several years and also won silver at the National Games.
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Mr. Vijay is also an ITF-certified coach who has instructed several leading tennis players with great success. He spoke on what it takes to host an ITF competition and also talked about what India should do to boom tennis' popularity as a sport.
ITF Tournament Director Mr. Peter Vijay talking about the beauty of tennis and the Mysuru Open 2023
1) After a gap of 8 years, Mysuru hosted an ITF tournament. How big was it?
Peter Vijay: Mysuru held its first tournament after eight years, and this is probably the biggest that has ever been conducted in the city. The previous tournaments were all $15,000, but this is the first time in the Mysuru district that we had a $25,000 ITF World tour event.
2) What are your thoughts on the recently completed tournament? Are we going to see more of such ITF tournaments being hosted in other cities of India?
Peter Vijay: It has been a case of constant endeavor to produce world champions from the state to make these things happen. Further, it is very important that we take tournaments to smaller districts and get a greater number of kids playing. The best possible opportunity for children is to see such kind of big matches and get inspired, and then they will probably pick up the game.
So surely this year, KSLTA plans to hold eight to 10 international tennis tournaments in various districts. We plan to inculcate more such matches, followed by national ranking tournaments. So the agenda looks pretty good for tennis players from our state to go in and participate in many tournaments so that their expenses are also reduced and they are able to give their best and perform better.
3) Tennis in India is still been looked at as a niche sport. Do you think more tournaments will lead to an increase in the sport’s popularity?
Peter Vijay: Yes, I totally agree that tennis is a niche sport and the only way we can promote the game is to get more number of kids to observe, watch, get interested, and try their hand in tennis. So the best way the KSLTA wants to bring tennis is to see the entire state of Karnataka represented by its various districts. This will help them observe world-class matches and get inspired by some world-class athletes.
Also, the kids will realize that the other players who are doing well are also Indians, and if possible, the best opportunity is to see if the other kids are also from Karnataka. Then you have an entire bunch of new upcoming youngsters who are inspired by this potential and would surely love to take up the sport and take it to the next level.
4) Do you think India needs a better tennis Infrastructure?
Peter Vijay: Surely, India needs better infrastructure, you know. Tennis infrastructure is such that it keeps evolving. We need hard courts in most of the places, and, in places where they are, it rains a lot. We need courts to be covered.
Tennis infrastructure is such that it is constantly evolving. The more the government embraces the new technology and the new methods of bringing more tennis courts, the more welcome it is. It'll surely encourage more kids to get actively involved in the sport.
5) The Mysuru Open was a huge success. What are your thoughts on the tournament?
Peter Vijay: Surely, the Mysuru Open was a huge success. Our plan was very, very simple from the KSLTA - to produce and provide the best for the players. So we focused on water, energy drinks, good umpires, quality food at the venue, good physios, and doctors at the venue. So every player who came in to participate in the event was very, very happy with the basic facilities that we had given.
Although basic, it was qualified staff and qualified people handling matches, so the players just loved it. This is how KSLTA wants to take tennis to other districts as well.
It's not about just holding matches. It's about how we can unite players with better-quality ground staff, giving them more than what is required. Taking care of the players is in itself a huge investment in the children by the KSLTA. So, this is how we would like to move forward and encourage more kids to take up the game.
6) What attracted ITF to host the tournament in Mysuru?
Peter Vijay: As I was telling you earlier, it is the constant endeavour of KSLTA to take the sport to every nook and cranny of Karnataka. So, it is in the plans that we have decided that we want more number of kids to come in and participate. We realize that talent is always found in smaller places.
It was very important for us to take it to districts other than Bangalore. So, we start off with Mysuru as the first. We plan to hold a host of events in other places in the coming year.
7) The tournament was scheduled to be completed in a relatively short time period. Was that a challenge?
Peter Vijay: No, I do not agree that the tournament was supposed to be completed in a relatively short period of time. We personally feel that it required a supervisor and these people are qualified enough to schedule the events and give them ample amount of rest in between matches.
This is was done very, very professionally by the supervisor who had come down from Sri Lanka and was hired by KSLTA to do this event. So, the event went off relatively very smoothly and there was enough, ample rest interval given to players in between the matches so that they could always put in their best in all their games.
8) As a Tournament Director, can you talk about your major responsibilities?
Peter Vijay: As a Tournament Director I had to see that the event went off smoothly. We had ample staff and my task was very, very simple: I could really engage our staff by allocating the work and creating responsibilities for them by setting some small-time targets, whether we need to call our district magistrate or the DC to come forward, for an event or printing of invites.
So, it was very well planned and my duty was to see that it was executed within that time period. The other major factor is that I was always constantly interacting with the players and finding out if they were comfortable, and whether they needed anything more.
This helped us in building up a good rapport with the players and the sponsors, which was so very critical for us to see that the event goes off smoothly. It did go off very smoothly and we had zero complaints from any player regarding this.
9) Do you think there is a need for better professionalism in India when it comes to tennis governance?
Peter Vijay: Yes, surely we need more professionalism and we also realize that the game has evolved so much. I personally feel nowadays that we have so many people getting involved in the sport and there is a role for almost every person. There are good quality umpires whom we should hire, and we have also got very good staff whom we could recruit to interact with the players to find out their needs and their requirements during matches.
The need for physios has also increased during such tournaments as the need to hire them. I personally feel that professionalism is constantly engaging these kinds of people in events and making the players have a more enjoyable event. Then they would love to come back to a place that caters to almost everything with zero cost.
So, this way we have realized that all the players have a smile when they compete and they have also realized that they get much more from us, which helps them save on a lot of their expenditure and motivates them to play more matches. This is my way of looking at how we could bring professionalism into the sport.
Note: This copy has been lightly edited for clarity and improved readability.
