"Women’s sports just needs to be marketed better"- PTPA member Vedika Anand opens up about improving tennis in India, Billie Jean King's impact & more

Vedika Anand has already done what most Indians would never venture to do -- make a career out of her interest in tennis. A member of the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association), Anand is one of the very few from her 1.4 billion-strong country who get to rub shoulders with the crème de la crème of the tennis world.

The PTPA, founded by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil, includes the likes of Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Hubert Hurkacz and Taylor Townsend, who are a part of the Executive Committee of the organization.

A certified Strength & Conditioning coach apart from being the Operations Manager for the PTPA, Anand was kind enough to join Sportskeeda for an exclusive interview.

Among other things, we discussed her role at the PTPA, her thoughts on how the organization plans to make the tennis ecosystem better for players, what India lacks when compared to other sporting nations, and the impact of Billie Jean King in the United States.

Without further ado, here is the full transcript of the interview with Vedika Anand:

Sportskeeda: How would you describe yourself in one sentence?

Vedika Anand: A former elite tennis player, now working in the sports industry, hoping to make a change in the Indian sports industry in the future.

Sportskeeda: Let’s focus on the improving Indian tennis thing for a bit. We know you work for the PTPA, you represent them as their operations manager. Can you speak a little about what that role specifically entails and how it pertains to Indian tennis a bit?

Vedika Anand: So there’s a player association in most professional sports, especially in the US. We have the NFL players association, the MLB players association, the NBA players association - which is the gold standard of player associations. We modelled the PTPA off of these: The goal, essentially, of the PTPA, is kind of to advocate on behalf of the players, create a unified voice for them, because when players come together, they have the power to change.

I joined the PTPA last year in January. I was employee No. 6, so I joined when the company was just been founded recently by Novak Djokovic, Vasek Pospisil. I decided to come on board, simply because the trajectory and the amount of access you get in a small company vs a big company in sports is a very different thing. So I didn’t want to get into the rut of starting out in ATP player relations or WTA player relations where my growth would have been a little less fast. With a company like this, I have access to talking to my CEO, to top executives.

What we now do is, when the players have an issue - with the rules, the schedule, the way doping process is done, all of that stuff - we take the problems on their behalf to the governance of tennis. We don’t speak for them. We speak on behalf of them. The difference is that we don’t decide what the players want, the players are the entire organization, which is what they want.

Tying that to the Indian sports part, I spent the last 12 months trying to connect with the players in the market in India. I met Sumit, Bopanna, Bala, Rajeev Ram (of Indian origin), Anirudh Chandrasekar, trying to help them out with resources on site, with anything and everything they might need.

Because it's nice to have a friendly face, I work with an organization that works with players, I make sure they are set up with some benefits from the players association, which all players get access to, and just give them a personalized touch.

Sportskeeda: You said you represent players: should the players approach you first or?

Vedika Anand: Yeah, we don’t represent them.We represent them in the meaning that we represent their voice, it’s not like an agency. So when the PTPA was created, it was open to all players. There's no restriction on who can join and who can’t join. There's no membership list at all.

Sportskeeda: Can you talk a little about the ‘Everyone watches women’s sports’ campaign that the PTPA has started?

Vedika Anand: I think that’s where the issue is. It should be that the ATP and the WTA are working together to make a change, to make it better for everyone. The campaign that you’re talking about was done by my boss actually. She went to the Cannes Lion festival, she got the hoodies and wanted players to wear them, wear it if they wanted to support the cause of supporting women’s sports. And I wanted to wear it as well, because I believe everyone watches women’s sports. It just needs to be marketed better.

I can tell you this, my first experience in this type of job was at the US Open in 2022, the year Serena Williams retired. As far as we knew, Serena’s first round singles match was going to be a full house. Tickets were going crazy, we already knew that. But I actually sat for Serena & Venus’ doubles match that night, I promise you that the crowd was equally loud, equally aggressive about this.

So the interest is there, but Serena and Venus are not there anymore. Serena is retired, Venus is not playing as much as she was before. So they need to start marketing women who play. You cannot just market Serena and Venus and expect women’s tennis to keep going the way it has been in the past.

Martina Navratilova had a story, Serena and Venus had a story, that’s why people watched it. Now you have to market the rest of the stories. Iga Swiatek is a big story, but not promoted enough by the WTA. Aryna Sabalenka, an amazing personality, not promoted enough. What the WTA has to do, in a nutshell, is promote the current players more and not just the top of the top. Not just the top-5, promote more of your players, because everyone will have a story for you to tell.

Sportskeeda: Glad you brought that story-telling up. Every time a mixed-gender tournament happens, you will see fans on social media complain about the difference between the promotions given to men’s and women’s players at the same event. Even when marketing women, there seems to be an obsession about marketing the ‘mothers’ on tour and ignoring everyone else.

Vedika Anand: I think it’s great that they market players like that. Taylor Townsend, for example, who has come to become a friend of mine, and it’s really cool to show her story. She is a mother and now she’s won Wimbledon doubles. I get it, promote the women who have come back after giving birth to babies, that’s a big story. But that’s not all you can do. You have to promote more. Lulu Sun, who was a big story at Wimbledon, wasn’t on the scene at all but was suddenly in the second week. That’s a story. I haven’t seen enough of her. I need more of her. Promote her.

It’s the same with the Indian scene as well, on the tennis front. I was talking to Sumit when I was at Wimbledon. I was like... It's not enough. Whatever has been done for you from a media standpoint is not enough. The man is top 100 in the world. How many years have we had that from India? Played the first round of Wimbledon. It is a huge deal. It's not promoted enough.

It's just not promoted enough. Same thing on the women's side. Ankita Raina, Karman Kaur Thandi, Rutuja Bhosle. There's a lot of players. It's not that they're not there. You have to market them properly.

Sportskeeda: Do you think that marketing of Indian players, it should come from the media side or specifically more government funding? What specifically do you think is the biggest flaw currently in Indian tennis?

Vedika Anand: There’s three things. One is infrastructure, which is government related. Second is financial, also government related. The third is our obsession with cricket and only cricket. I love cricket. I am an Indian through and through. I have watched cricket in New York, but it can't be our whole personality. It just can't, you know? Just the way in the US, NFL is the biggest sport. That doesn't mean that tennis, tennis is a bad example of that, NBA, MLB, other sports are not promoted. The women's basketball league is one of the most talked about and marketed products in the US market currently. Which is insane, right?

So if they can do it, why not us? So yeah, part of it is media and part of it is also, I think the government needs to put in the money and put forward trust that India can also produce players outside of cricket.

I know you are laughing, but it's like it's banging my head against the wall. It's not even a situation where we are trying to set up infrastructure and finances at the highest level in India. It starts at the grassroots level. Schools. Start putting sports in schools. That's how it starts. You need to start them here. After that, we can focus here. That's how I think the sports will grow in India.

Sportskeeda: As a strength and conditioning coach, isn't that where you guys will come in? Do you start specifically with players at the adult level or do you think it will be easier if children were brought up knowing the importance of sports?

Vedika Anand: So I actually got my certification as a strength and conditioning specialist right after college. When I graduated, I decided to do it because there was a gap. When I grew up there wasn't enough emphasis on fitness, I thought. That, coincided with the fact that we have so much talent at the amateur level, but the transition to the professional level is missing right now.

And part of that, of course we already talked about the infrastructure and financial piece but part of that is also that a lot of our players are struggling to stay healthy and injury free to be able to get to that point. Yuki Bhambri is a prime example. The guy is talented as hell and a friend of mine, so I can say this. He has the potential to be a top singles player. But he has had some bad injuries in the past. Isn't that enough indication that it needs to start from the very beginning?

So I decided to get my Strength and Conditioning certification because eventually the goal has been to start a high performance training centre in India. I'm only one person, I can only make so much impact, but some part of that impact will hopefully, hopefully start a trend in the future.

But yeah, essentially I wanted to get to know the business experience of sports and the performance experience to eventually start a high performance training centre because I think the gap is in fitness. And players need to stay healthy because I started playing at 6.

I'm sure all of these guys, Yuki, Sumit, Bopanna, all of them started playing at the same age. From 6 years old, now Bopanna is 43. From 6 to 43, he has been playing tennis, and your body needs to stay healthy. So I think that's the main thing. You have to train it, you have to rehab it, you have to take care of your body to be able to sustain so many years on tour.

Sportskeeda: So right now there is definitely a big gap between India and perhaps European countries when you see that jump from amateur to professional, right? At least in tennis.

Vedika Anand: Yeah, yeah. There is a gap. You're not wrong. Europe is a good example because that's where tennis is most popular. See the number of academies that are there in Europe. Incredible that parents and coaches and mentors are willing to push children to go to academies to train. I think it's great. We're not there yet. From a mindset standpoint, we're not there yet even if the infrastructure gets set up.

So even if the infrastructure gets set up, people need to change their mindset about ‘You can't be a sports person. You have to be a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer.’ That needs to change. And I mean, I'm a prime example. I'm a girl. I grew up as a South Delhi girl. Nobody around me was an athlete. Maybe some boys were. Not that many girls. Even in school, I was one of the few, you know. That needs to change.

Sportskeeda: Before Wimbledon, you were in attendance at the Giorgio Armani Classic. In the calendar right now, considering how busy it is, do you really think an exhibition right before a Slam makes sense?

Vedika Anand: Wimbledon is different, right? The problem is there's no Masters 1000 event on grass before Wimbledon. It’s difficult for players to find opportunities to just get practice on on the grass coming off of clay and moving to grass is difficult.

So players do it for two reasons: One so that they can get that experience on grass and get some match practice. Two, the creme de la creme of tennis make a lot of money but not all of them do, so sometimes these exhibitions, because you get paid for them, is important to players. It's their only option.

Sportskeeda: I wanted to ask you something lighter. Like there was one video where you talked about your dad. And he picked Federer and Sinner, if I'm not wrong. Do you agree with him?

Vedika Anand: [laughs] Out of the Big-3, I'm a Federer fan. Little biased to Novak because he started PTPA, obviously. But. as a personal choice, I grew up watching Federer. He was like an artist on the court. And my dad and I shared a bond about loving Federer. And I think new gen. Uh. I'm a big, big Hubert Hurkacz fan. Very big Hubi fan. Again, biased. He's on our executive committee. But also he's one of the nicest human beings I've ever met. So yeah. Hubi would be my pick.

Sportskeeda: On the women’s side?

Vedika Anand: I really like Billie Jean King, if you're talking legends. I used to work for her, um, for her organization and her foundation in New York. Worked with her as well. And just everything she's done for women's tennis, I'm a big supporter. Sania Mirza is another one, of course. Paved the way for sports and Indian sports. New Gen, I’m a big Ons Jabeur fan.

Sportskeeda: Since you brought up Billie Jean King, King is still held up as the gold standard for women's tennis in the US and pretty much every player coming from the US at some point they mention Billie Jean King and how her legacy motivated them, inspired them or at least started their tennis journey. How do you see King's impact in US as an outsider?

Vedika Anand: See, Billie Jean King was a big trailblazer. They also, again, they talk about it a lot. They promote it a lot. She's on the scene a lot. She's sitting at tournaments. She's always around. She's making a big impact. That makes a big difference as well for her legacy to continue. If she had done what she did and was nowhere to be seen after that and not doing all this great work in women's sports, maybe it wouldn't have been as talked about.

As an outsider, you know, like coming into the US, everyone knows her, everyone talks about her till this day because she's still around. That's a big difference. So my one thing, if I had to say, and Bopanna is already doing this, where he's leaving a legacy for himself, right? Started an academy.

He's doing a ton of work. He's doing things outside of just playing tennis, which is great. He's doing a lot of media stuff. The Jaipur Rugs campaign, absolute genius, I loved that. So yeah, if he continues to do that and he leaves his legacy the way, you know, Billie Jean King has, I'm sure he's going to be talked about 20 years down the line and hopefully I can tell my kids like, this is the gold standard for tennis.