The Road to Wimbledon heads back to Delhi this week with former British no. 1 Tim Henman spearheading an action-packed week of events designed to boost the development of junior tennis in the region and run a talent hunt at the RK Khanna Stadium.
Indian players have dominated the RTW so far by winning the boys’ singles title (Siddhanth Banthia and Sacchitt Sharma) in the previous two editions and girls’ singles title (Mahak Jain) last year at the UK’s national championship.
Former Britain Davis Cup captain Paul Hutchins, tournament director of the event, said Indians at the level of 14 and under were as good as the Europeans but the Aita needed to look at development of singles players.
On why Indians were successful at the event, Hutchins said, “They have adapted to the grass at Wimbledon well. The surface is now slower. And in Great Britain sometimes the top two players are not playing but I don’t want to take credit away from the Indians. The Under-14 kids here are comparable to players in Europe.
“Indian tennis now is more about doubles and mixed doubles. But singles is very important. The Aita needs to look into it. We hope Indian junior tennis gets benefited from us with clinics and coaching programmes.”
Henman, who has been associated with the RTW since its inception, said their programme was not meant to produce champions overnight.
“We have seen how they are improving. It’s a learning curve. It will motivate them to play at Wimbledon. It’s not a programme to get immediate success but to give them opportunity and inspiration,” he said.
The top 16 boys and girls from across the four qualifying events are invited to the Road to Wimbledon Junior Masters to be held this April on the grass courts of Kolkata with the two boys and girls finalists invited to compete in the UK HSBC National Finals on grass at Wimbledon in August.
