Tennis Premier League (TPL) hosted a talent hunt caravan, giving opportunities for different levels of players, including coaches and people over 35 years of age, at the DLTA Complex here on Sunday.
Kunal Thakkur and Mrunal Jain, founders of TPL, were on hand to explain the vision and growth of the tournament, along with the owners of the Delhi and Punjab teams, Sneh Patel and Raminder Singh, apart from the coach of the Indian women’s team, Ankita Bhambri.
Explaining that TPL was serving Indian tennis in a big way in it, Kunal revealed that the players would get an average of about five lakh rupees each, as compared to 1.5 lakh in the second edition in 2019.
“We have also found sponsors for Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale and Arjun Kadhe. We also support Sumit Nagal”, said Kunal, whose vision is to have lots of tournaments across the country and connect the tennis community through a mobile app that has been successfully designed.
The TPL will be staged in Pune from December 12 to 17.
“Our aim is to support the players and help them grow. Everyone just play the tournament and keep improving the rank”, said Mrunal, as he goaded everyone to, “aaja maidan mein”.
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“Come out and play”
The 20-point format for each match in the TPL makes it lively for the spectators and interesting for television audience.
Kunal pointed out that apart from tennis stars Leander Paes and Sania Mirza, there was support from Bollywood stars Tapsee Pannu, Rakulpreet Singh, Sonali Bendre and Malaika Arora.
“We are in the second year of association with TPL. It is a fine ecosystem for tennis. They promote the players and the game. The involvement of celebrities gets a lot of attention to tennis, and that helps in the growth of the game’, said Raminder Singh, the owner of Punjab Tigers.
Ankita Bhambri agreed and said that apart from global stars like Leander and Sania, the presence of Bollywood stars would help in the growth of tennis, and eventually power Indian players to global standards.
Kunal said that after having the TPL in Mumbai and Pune, the future editions could be staged in Delhi or Ahmedabad.
“It is great that TPL is on television. Apart from Grand Slams we don’t get to watch much tennis on TV. Everyone will learn a lot, and tennis will keep getting better”, said Ankita.
“The TPL builds popularity for the tennis players”, said Sneh Patel, the owner of Delhi Binny’s Brigade.
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