Kolkata: Multiple Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi says for India to host big-ticket WTA events, the country needs to produce a top-50 women’s singles player, who can bring the fans to the stadium.
India has just one WTA event – USD 125,000 Mumbai Open – but has a number of ITF 25k events, most of them hosted by MSLTA.
Bhupathi cited example of Sania Mirza, who he says was their sole reason to bring Hyderabad Open in 2005. India also hosted WTA tier III Sunfeast Open from 2004 to 2008 but since then there are hardly any WTA events in country.
“When Sania was playing, there were a lot of people watching. In any sport, you need to have a champion to champion the sport. In badminton, Saina did well, now Sindhu and Kashyap and all are doing well. We don’t have a girl in the top 50 to champion a WTA event,” Bhupathi said.
“We were fortuitous about the timing of our WTA event. We went and chased WTA event and brought it to India because of Sania’s breakthrough.”
Sania Mirza, who recently gave birth to a baby boy, should not rush her return to competitive tennis said Bhupathi. Sania and her cricketer husband Shoaib Malik welcomed their first child in October and she has been out of action since the beginning of the 2018 season.
“She will comeback when and if she is ready. When you have a baby, priorities are different. When I had a baby, priorities were different. It didn’t come out of my stomach, I can imagine it’s harder for her. So she has to take her time and decisions as they come,” Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed doubles trophy with Sania in 2009, said.
India’s non-playing captain reiterated that taking on Italians on grass is their best chance to beat them in the Davis Cup Qualifiers on February 1-2 next year. “In Davis Cup, you always try and play to the strengths of your team and when Somdev became No 1, grass was not an option anymore. Now the team we have, grass suits a lot of the players and we are happy to be back. We are just happy to be playing a big match at home and obviously Kolkata for me is a special place, where I made my debut. There is so much amazing tradition in tennis here.”
The premier team competition in men’s tennis will return to the South Club after a gap of 16 years. Having made his debut in Kolkata, Bhupathi said: As per the new format, 24 teams will vie for top honours in the Qualifiers on home and away basis with the 12 winners joining six more in the Finals in Madrid from18-24 November next year.