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100 YEARS OF ALL INDIA TENNIS ASSOCIATION e inaugural grass court National Championship was held at Calcutta’s South Club, ‘the cradle of the game in the country’, in 1946. e big-serving Sumant Misra became the rst champion, beating Man Mohan Lal South Club, 'the cradle of the game in the country', in 1946. e big- dominated the game. In 1962, Krishnan earned his highest seeding in serving Sumant Misra became the �rst champion, beating Man Mohan Wimbledon (he was fourth seeded). In Davis Cup, India repeatedly Lal. Till 1955, only three Indians, Sumant Misra (1946 and 1952), Dilip became zonal champions and played the inter–zonal �nals. History was Bose (1948) and Ramanathan Krishnan as a 16-year-old (1953) won the made when Ramanathan Krishnan, along with Premjit Lall, S.P. Misra championship. e foreigners dominated the scene till 1976. e most and Mukerjea, with R.K. Khanna as the non-playing captain, steered important to bear the mantle were Roy Emerson (Australia), a India to the Davis Cup �nals in 1966. ey lost the Cup, but not before Wimbledon and US Open champion, and Ile Nastase who was world Krishnan and Mukerjea beat Newcombe and Tony Roche, the No. 1 in 1973. India's Ramanathan Krishnan won the title a record Wimbledon champions (1965) in doubles. Lall and Mukerjea together number of eight times (1953-1964). Of the other eminent Indians, held the National doubles and Asian Doubles Championships four Premjit Lall and Vijay Amritraj were champions thrice each, while Jaidip times each. Mukerjea and Ramesh Krishnan won the title twice each. In the 1970s, Vijay Amritraj arrived on the scene. With teammates India had the honour of staging the �rst Asian International Shashi Menon, Jasjit Singh, and brother Anand Amritraj, Vijay took Championship in Calcutta in 1949-1950. Dilip Bose emerged as the India to the 'World Cup' �nals for the second time in 1974. India did �rst Asian champion. He also has the distinction of being seeded at not play South Africa in the �nals due to political reasons. Vijay made it Wimbledon (15th seed) in 1950. In 1954, a young Ramanathan to the quarter�nals in US Open in 1973 and 1981, and Wimbledon in Krishnan became the �rst Junior Wimbledon champion, the �rst Asian. 1973 and 1974. After Amritraj brothers, Ramesh Krishnan appeared on Twenty-�ve years later, Ramesh Krishnan emulated his father to win the the scene. He won the junior Wimbledon championship and junior junior crown in 1979. Leander Paes was the third Indian to win the French title in 1979 and was ranked No.1 junior player in the world. He junior Wimbledon title in 1990. made it to the quarter�nals of Wimbledon in 1986 and twice at the US Open. He was instrumental in lifting India to the Davis Cup �nals for In the 1960s, Ramanathan Krishnan, Jaidip Mukerjea and Premjit Lall the third time in 1987 by defeating a much-more experienced Wally

100 YEARS OF ALL INDIA TENNIS ASSOCIATION Masur of Australia in straight sets. India, though, lost to Sweden in the There was a time when women played tennis draped in saris or �nals. Ramesh hung up his tennis shoes in 1993 after a glorious career. salwar kameez. Ms Lakshmi Mahadevan in action enroute to her victory over Ms A.R. Mills (not seen in the picture) in two sets in the Leander Paes picked up the gauntlet of Indian tennis by winning the Junior final of the women's singles of the Asian Lawn Tennis Championship, Wimbledon and US Open titles in 1990 and 1991 respectively. He turned held at Kolkata in 1964 out to be an outstanding Davis Cupper. e Indian Davis Cup Team reached the qualifying round of the World Group for the fourth consecutive year in 2003. Leander and Mahesh Bhupathi created history by reaching the 'Doubles Finals' of all the four Grand Slams in the world and winning the Wimbledon and US Open doubles titles in 1999. ey were declared No. 1 doubles pair in the world. In 2002, the U14 boys and Girls and U16 Girls teams reached within the �rst-eight positions in the World Group. AITA conceptualized and conducted ATF Asia Cup from 1997 to 2000. In the 2002 Busan Asian Games, Indian tennis players bagged one gold medal, a silver medal and a couple of bronze medals. e concept of tennis underwent a change in 1968 with Wimbledon and other tournaments going professional with prize money for the players. AITA organised a few Grand Prix tournaments in the 1970s, but they did not meet with much success as the prize money was limited due to lack of funds. In the early 1980s, the name of the association was changed to 'All India Tennis Association' (AITA). From the beginning of 1990s, tennis in India started getting a new avatar. e �nancial position of the association improved considerably. e association constructed a full-�edged modern National Stadium at Delhi with a seating capacity of 5,000 spectators in 1996. e organisation that was functioning from temporary and roving headquarters at Calcutta, Delhi and Madras till now was �nally shifted to its permanent location at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium in 1996. While the far-sighted Mr. R.K. Khanna and his team made the association �nancially viable, the dynamic Mr. Anil Khanna and his colleagues under the presidentship of former union minister for external affairs, Shri Yashwant Sinha carried out the necessary spadework to revamp the entire developmental processes and managerial skills to bring pro�ciency into every sphere of development. e tennis scene in the country is on the upswing under the current AITA president and MP, Dr. Anil Jain. (Article sourced from AITA)

100 YEARS OF ALL INDIA TENNIS ASSOCIATION Leander Paes became the first Indian tennis player to win an Olympic medal. Down a set against Fernando Meligini in the bronze medal playoff at 1996 Atlanta, with a break-point to save in the second set, Paes went on to create history for Indian tennis

100 YEARS OF ALL INDIA TENNIS ASSOCIATION Mahesh Bhupathi, the first Indian to win a Grand Slam tournament, announced his retirement in 2013, after winning 12 Grand Slam titles – four men's doubles and eight mixed doubles. The Lee-Hesh pair reached No.1 in the world in 1999, giving Indian tennis some of its brightest moments

100 YEARS OF ALL INDIA TENNIS ASSOCIATION The country's finest women tennis player of all time and winner of six Grand Slam titles, Sania Mirza is synonymous with Indian tennis and responsible for many firsts in the development of the game. The Hyderabad-based tennis star is the first Indian women to win a WTA title, reach No.1 in WTA doubles rankings, break in the top-30 in WTA singles rankings and win a Grand Slam





DAVIS CUP WORLD GROUP TIE INDIA VS DENMARK MARCH 4-5, 2022 DELHI GYMKHANA CLUB ROHIT RAJPAL ZEESHAN ALI CAPTAIN COACH

ROHAN BOPANNA RAMKUMAR RAMANATHAN PRAJNESH GUNNESWARAN YUKI BHAMBRI DIVIJ SHARAN

DELHI DAVIS CUP 2022 ORGANISING COMMITTEE From left: Tournament Director, Mr. Aditya Khanna, Co-Chairman, OC Delhi Davis Cup 2022 & Administrator, Delhi Gymkhana Club, Mr. Om Pathak, Chairman, OC Delhi Davis Cup 2022, AITA President & MP, Dr.Anil Jain, former Davis Cupper and non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup team 2022, Mr Rohit Rajpal, and Mr. Daljit Walia, OC Delhi Davis Cup 2022 Member, at a press conference on February 25 for Davis Cup 2022

From left: Mr. Achinta Ghosh, Mr. Manish Kumar, Commodore Jaspreet Shergill (Retd.), Col. Ranbir Singh Chauhan (Retd.), Mr. Om Pathak, OC Co-Chairman, Dr.Anil Jain, OC Chairman, Mr. Daljit Walia, Col. J.P. Singh, Mr.Akhuri Bishwadep and Mr.Aditya Khanna,Tournament Director