Tennis in India

Tennis in India
Country	India
Governing body	All India Tennis Association
National team(s)	India Davis Cup team India Billie Jean King Cup team
Club competitions
Tennis Premier League (2018–present)

Tennis enjoys a considerable following in India. Although it is limited to urban areas but still it is counted among the most popular national sports. India has produced a number of tennis players, who have achieved international recognition and made their presence in some of the top tennis tournaments and grand slams. All India Tennis Association established in 1920, is the governing body of tennis in India and is a member of the Asian Tennis Federation. India Davis Cup team is the most successful team of Asia in Davis Cup, who has finished as runners-up 3 times.

History

Tennis has been a popular sport in India since around the 1880s when the British Army and civilian officers brought the game to India. Soon after regular tournaments like the Punjab Lawn Tennis Championship at Lahore (Pakistan, 1885); Bengal Lawn Tennis Championship at Calcutta (1887), and the All India Tennis Championships at Allahabad (1910) were organised. In the history of major tournaments, India has already beaten among others France, Romania, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Greece in Davis Cup ties (1921 to 1929).

The history of tennis in India goes back a long way. In the 1880s, the British introduced the game of tennis in India during the colonial rule and soon it started gaining momentum. BK Nehru in 1905 and Sardar Nihal Singh in 1908 were later joined by Mohammed Sleem, Fayzee brothers and Jagat Mohan Lal who made it to last 16 stages at the Wimbledon. Ghaus Mohammad was the first Indian to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1939 where he lost to American champion Bobby Riggs.

According to the All India Tennis Association, in Davis Cup ties between 1921 and 1929, India beat, among others, France, Romania, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Greece. Top Indian players like Saleem, the Fayzee brothers, Cotah Ramaswamy and Krishna Prasad beat a large number of ranked European players and teams to bring glory to the nation.

In the 1960s, the sport witnessed a golden era. Ramanathan Krishnan earned his highest seeding – No. 4 in Wimbledon in 1962. In the Davis Cup, India repeatedly became the Zonal Champions. Ramanathan Krishnan, along with Premjit Lall, SP Misra, Jaidip Mukerjea and RK Khanna as the non-playing captain, steered India to the Cup finals in 1966. They lost the Cup but not before Krishnan and Mukerjea beat Newcombe and Tony Roche, the Wimbledon champions, (1965) in doubles.

In the 1970s, Vijay Amritraj burst onto the scene. With teammates Sashi Menon, Jasjit Singh and brother Anand Amritraj, Vijay took India to World Cup Finals for the second time in 1974. Vijay also made it to the quarterfinals of US Open in 1973 and 1981; and Wimbledon in 1973 and 1974. Ramesh Krishnan, the son of Ramanathan Krishnan, won the junior Wimbledon championship and junior French Open title in 1979 and was ranked number 1 junior in the world. He made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon (1986) and US Open (twice).

The 1990s saw the rise of Leander Paes who won the bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1997, Mahesh Bhupathi became India's first ever grand slam winner when he won the mixed doubles at French Open. Paes partnered with Bhupati to reach the finals of all four grand slams in 1999, winning two. In the 2000s and 2010s, playing separately or together, Paes and Bhupati won several grand slam doubles and mixed doubles tournaments.

The 2000s saw India's first WTA tournament winner Sania Mirza. Mirza also won a number of grand slam titles in doubles in the late 2000s and 2010s.

India's last 2010s grand slam win came in 2017 when Rohan Bopanna won the mixed doubles title at French Open. At the end of 2010s, Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the only Indian men's singles player in the top 100. In 2021 Ankita Raina became the 2nd woman from India to win a WTA title and enter into top 100 doubles rankings. India's latest grand slam win came in 2024 with Rohan Bopanna winning the men's doubles title at Australian Open.

In February 2024, Sumit Nagal made his top 100 debut becoming the tenth Indian tennis player to reach the Top 100, which he reached by defeating Luca Nardi in the final of the Challenger in Chennai.

Medal table

Competition	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Olympic Games	0	0	1	1
Davis Cup	0	3	5	8
Commonwealth Games	1	1	2	4
Asian Games	10	7	17	34
Total	11	11	25	47

• Updated till 5th August 2024

Grand Slam finals

In 1997, India won their first Grand Slam title at the French Open, in the mixed doubles. Since then Indians have won Grand Slam titles in the mixed doubles, men's doubles, women's doubles besides girls' doubles events. No Indian has so far won a Grand Slam Singles title in the men's or women's category.

Mixed doubles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Players	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1997	French Open	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi Rika Hiraki	Patrick Galbraith Lisa Raymond	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	1998	Wimbledon	Grass	Mahesh Bhupathi Mirjana Lučić	Serena Williams Max Mirnyi	4–6, 4–6
Winner	1999	US Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Ai Sugiyama	Donald Johnson Kimberly Po	6–4, 6–4
Winner	1999	Wimbledon	Grass	Leander Paes Lisa Raymond	Anna Kournikova Jonas Björkman	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	2001	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes Lisa Raymond	Rennae Stubbs Todd Woodbridge	6–4, 5–7, 6–7 (9–11)
Winner	2002	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Likhovtseva	Daniela Hantuchová Kevin Ullyett	6–2, 7–5
Winner	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	Eleni Daniilidou Todd Woodbridge	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	2003	French Open	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Likhovtseva	Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2003	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	Anastasia Rodionova Andy Ram	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	2004	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	Elena Bovina Nenad Zimonjić	6–1, 7–6
Runner-up	2005	French Open	Clay	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	Daniela Hantuchová Fabrice Santoro	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	2005	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Mahesh Bhupathi Mary Pierce	Tatiana Perebiynis Paul Hanley	6–4, 6–2
Winner	2005	US Open (2)	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Daniela Hantuchová	Katarina Srebotnik Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–2
Winner	2006	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Martina Hingis	Elena Likhovtseva Daniel Nestor	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	2007	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes Meghann Shaughnessy	Victoria Azarenka Max Mirnyi	6–4, 7–6(8–6)
Runner-up	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza	Sun Tiantian Nenad Zimonjić	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Winner	2008	US Open (3)	Hard	Leander Paes Cara Black	Liezel Huber Jamie Murray	7–6, 6–4
Winner	2009	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza	Nathalie Dechy Andy Ram	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	2009	Wimbledon	Grass	Leander Paes Cara Black	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Mark Knowles	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2009	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes Cara Black	Carly Gullickson Travis Parrot	6–2, 6–4
Winner	2010	Australian Open (4)	Hard	Leander Paes Cara Black	Ekaterina Makarova Jaroslav Levinský	7–5, 6–3
Winner	2010	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Leander Paes Cara Black	Lisa Raymond Wesley Moodie	6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	2011	Wimbledon	Grass	Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Vesnina	Iveta Benešová Jürgen Melzer	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Elena Vesnina	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Horia Tecău	3–6, 7–5, [3–10]
Winner	2012	French Open (2)	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza	Klaudia Jans-Ignacik Santiago González	7–6(7–3), 6–1
Runner-up	2012	Wimbledon	Grass	Leander Paes Elena Vesnina	Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan	3–6, 7–5, 4–6
Runner-up	2014	Australian Open	Hard	Horia Tecău Sania Mirza	Kristina Mladenovic Daniel Nestor	3–6, 2–6
Winner	2014	US Open	Hard	Bruno Soares Sania Mirza	Abigail Spears Santiago González	6–1, 2–6, [11–9]
Winner	2015	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Leander Paes Martina Hingis	Kristina Mladenovic Daniel Nestor	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2015	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Leander Paes Martina Hingis	Alexander Peya Tímea Babos	6–1, 6–1
Winner	2017	French Open	Clay	Gabriela Dabrowski Rohan Bopanna	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Robert Farah	2–6, 6–2, [12–10]
Runner up	2018	Australian Open	Hard	Tímea Babos Rohan Bopanna	Gabriela Dabrowski Mate Pavić	6–2, 4–6, [9–11]
Runner up	2023	Australian Open	Hard	Rohan Bopanna Sania Mirza	Luisa Stefani Rafael Matos	6–7(2–7), 2-6

Men's doubles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Players	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1999	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Jonas Björkman Patrick Rafter	3–6, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(12–10), 4–6
Winner	1999	French Open	Clay	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Goran Ivanišević Jeff Tarango	6–2, 7–5
Winner	1999	Wimbledon	Grass	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Paul Haarhuis Jared Palmer	6–7, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	1999	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	6–7, 4–6
Winner	2001	French Open (2)	Clay	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Petr Pála Pavel Vízner	7–6, 6–3
Winner	2002	US Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Max Mirnyi	Jiří Novák Radek Štěpánek	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Runner-up	2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Mahesh Bhupathi Max Mirnyi	Jonas Björkman Todd Woodbridge	6–3, 3–6, 6–7(4–7), 3–6
Runner-up	2004	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes David Rikl	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2006	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Martin Damm	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Winner	2006	US Open (2)	Hard	Leander Paes Martin Damm	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	2008	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes Lukáš Dlouhý	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7(5–7), 6–7(10–12)
Runner-up	2009	Australian Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Mark Knowles	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–2, 5–7, 0–6
Winner	2009	French Open (3)	Clay	Leander Paes Lukáš Dlouhý	Wesley Moodie Dick Norman	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2009	US Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi Mark Knowles	Lukáš Dlouhý Leander Paes	6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Winner	2009	US Open (3)	Hard	Leander Paes Lukáš Dlouhý	Mahesh Bhupathi Mark Knowles	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2010	French Open	Clay	Leander Paes Lukáš Dlouhý	Nenad Zimonjić Daniel Nestor	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	2010	US Open	Hard	Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7(5–7), 6–7(4–7)
Runner-up	2011	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Leander Paes Radek Štěpánek	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6(7–1), 6–2
Runner-up	2012	US Open	Hard	Leander Paes Radek Štěpánek	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2013	US Open (4)	Hard	Leander Paes Radek Štěpánek	Alexander Peya Bruno Soares	6–1, 6–3
Winner	2024	Australian Open	Hard	Rohan Bopanna Matthew Ebden	Simone Bolelli Andrea Vavassori	7–6(7–0), 7–5

Women's doubles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Players	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2011	French Open	Clay	Sania Mirza Elena Vesnina	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	4–6, 3–6
Winner	2015	Wimbledon	Grass	Sania Mirza Martina Hingis	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	5–7, 7–6(7–4), 7–5
Winner	2015	US Open	Hard	Sania Mirza Martina Hingis	Casey Dellacqua Yaroslava Shvedova	6–3, 6–3
Winner	2016	Australian Open	Hard	Sania Mirza Martina Hingis	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	7–6(7–1), 6-3

Current rankings

Women's singles

#	Player	World Rank
1	Sahaja Yamalapalli	284
2	Shrivalli Bhamidipaty	300
3	Ankita Raina	302
4	Vaidehi Chaudhari	424
5	Rutuja Bhosale	446
6	Zeel Desai	551
7	Vaishnavi Adkar	688
8	Riya Bhatia	819

Men's singles

#	Player	World Rank
1	Sumit Nagal	81
2	Ramkumar Ramanathan	270
3	Mukund Sasikumar	400

Men's doubles

#	Player	World Rank
1	Rohan Bopanna	8
2	Yuki Bhambri	44
3	Sriram Balaji	61
4	Arjun Kadhe	77
5	Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli	85

• Source:

Highest ranked players

Top 100 Ranked Players

The list include Indian players who have had a ranking inside the ATP or WTA top 100. The rankings were introduced in 1973 (men) and 1975 (women).

Men's Singles

Player	Ranking		Date reached top 100	Date reached highest ranking	ATP Tour
	High	Current			Turned Pro	Retired	Titles
Vijay Amritraj	18	N/A	1973, August 23	1980, October 20	1970	1993	15
Ramesh Krishnan	23	N/A	1979, May 21	1985, January 28	1976	1993	8
Somdev Devvarman	62	N/A	2010, August 2	2011, July 25	2002	2016	0
Sumit Nagal	68	83	2024, July 15	2024, July 15	2013		0
Sashi Menon	71	N/A	1975, September 16	1975, October 21	1970	1985	0
Leander Paes	73	N/A	1997, September 8	1998, October 24	1990	2008	1
Anand Amritraj	74	N/A	1973, September 26	1974, November 6	1968	1990	0
Prajnesh Gunneswaran	75	N/A	2019, February 11	2019, April 22	2007		0
Yuki Bhambri	83	N/A	2015, October 19	2018, April 16	2007		0
Jasjit Singh	89	N/A	1973, November 26	1974, June 3	1965	1979	0

Women's Singles

Player	Ranking		Date reached top 100	Date reached highest ranking	WTA Tour
	High	Current			Turned Pro	Retired	Titles
Sania Mirza	27	N/A	2005, February 14	2007, August 27	2003	2013	1

Notable performances at Olympics

Year	Event	Player	Result
1924
	Men's singles	Sydney Jacob	Quarter-finals
	Men's doubles	Syed Mohammad Hadi Donald Rutnam	Quarter-finals
1992
	Men's doubles	Leander Paes Ramesh Krishnan	Quarter-finals
1996
	Men's singles	Leander Paes
2004
	Men's doubles	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	4th
2008
	Men's doubles	Leander Paes Mahesh Bhupathi	Quarter-finals
2012
	Mixed doubles	Leander Paes Sania Mirza	Quarter-finals
2016
	Mixed doubles	Rohan Bopanna Sania Mirza	4th

National award recipients

Year	Recipient	Award	Gender
1996–1997	Leander Paes	Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna	Male
2015	Sania Mirza	Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna	Female
1961	Ramanathan Krishnan	Arjuna Award	Male
1962	Naresh Kumar	Arjuna Award	Male
1966	Jaidip Mukerjea	Arjuna Award	Male
1967	Premjit Lall	Arjuna Award	Male
1974	Vijay Amritraj	Arjuna Award	Male
1978–1979	Nirupama Mankad	Arjuna Award	Female
1980–1981	Ramesh Krishnan	Arjuna Award	Male
1985	Anand Amritraj	Arjuna Award	Male
1990	Leander Paes	Arjuna Award	Male
1995	Mahesh Bhupathi	Arjuna Award	Male
1996	Gaurav Natekar	Arjuna Award	Male
1997	Asif Ismail	Arjuna Award	Male
2000	Akhtar Ali +	Arjuna Award	Male
2001	Sandeep Kirtane	Arjuna Award	Male
2004	Sania Mirza	Arjuna Award	Female
2011	Somdev Devvarman	Arjuna Award	Male
2017	Saketh Myneni	Arjuna Award	Male
2018	Rohan Bopanna	Arjuna Award	Male
2020	Divij Sharan	Arjuna Award	Male
2021	Ankita Raina	Arjuna Award	Female
2014	Zeeshan Ali	Dhyan Chand Award	Male
2015	Shiv Prakash Mishra	Dhyan Chand Award	Male
2019	Nitin Kirtane	Dhyan Chand Award	Male
2020	Nandan P. Bal	Dhyan Chand Award	Male
2020	Naresh Kumar +	Dronacharya Award	Male

Key

+ Indicates a Lifetime contribution honour

See also

• Tennis Premier League
• India at the Hopman Cup
• Sport in India

Further reading

• "HISTORY OF BALLYGUNGE CRICKET CLUB/CCFC — TENNIS SECTION". ccfc1792.com. Kolkata: Calcutta Cricket and Football Club. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016.