'Important for India to host more high-level tournaments': Sahaja Yamalapalli

NEW DELHI: India's top-ranked women's tennis player, Sahaja Yamalapalli, has voiced concern over the lack of high-level professional tournaments in the country, saying it is a major hurdle for aspiring players trying to climb the global rankings.


India does host some lower-tier ITF events, but there are few higher-level tournaments, such as ATP-WTA 250, 500 or 1000 events, that offer significantly more ranking points on home soil. The Bengaluru Open is currently India’s premier men’s ATP Challenger event, with 125 ranking points for the winner. In women’s tennis, the ITF Open W100 Bengaluru is one of the biggest international events, with 100 WTA ranking points for the winner. The Tata Open Maharashtra, an ATP 250 event and formerly South Asia’s biggest men's tournament, moved to Hong Kong in 2024.




“It’s important for India to host more high-level tournaments for the development of Indian players and their rankings. Even lower-level events, if held regularly, provide exposure to younger players. When there are bigger tournaments, everyone gets an opportunity. In the US, when a tournament like this happens, all the Americans feature in the event. In India, there are mostly foreigners for these tournamnets, and only a handful of us competing. That must change,” Sahaja, ranked No. 385 in the world, told TOI ahead of next week’s Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie here.

Sahaja said many Indian players travel to different parts of the world to compete in higher-level events, bringing with it a heavy financial burden in the form of travel, accommodation and coaching costs. “The challenge we face is the lack of domestic high-level tournaments. We have only two, while players from other countries have back-to-back events in their own backyard and do not need to travel outside their nation. We play only five or six weeks in India. For the rest, we have to go abroad and that comes with travel expenses. If you want to take a coach, that is another expense. Those are the challenges Indian players face, even though we have so much talent. I feel that is the reason we do not have many players in the top 500. There are only four or five of us,” she added.

The 25-year-old from Telangana said she was an average player while growing up, but her time in the US education system and collegiate sports transformed her game.

"College life was very different because, before going to college, I barely had any matches under my belt due to a lack of financial help. In college, we played matches every week and I was exposed to high-level tennis. I think that is what pushed me to become better, and that is where I transformed as a player. It is a completely different environment and experience. You get exposed to a lot of great things that you do not get here in India. It helps a lot when you become a professional player."

She also spoke about briefly turning vegan because of vitamin deficiencies. "I turned vegan because of my low vitamin levels in the blood. But I found it hard to manage while travelling because of the lack of protein in other countries. During that time, I felt good on the court, but I kept losing weight, so I had to stop being vegan."

Looking ahead to the forthcoming BJK Cup tie at the DLTA Stadium from April 7 to 11, Sahaja said the team stood a good chance of making the playoffs. "We have already been here for a couple of days, and the plan was to be here for a week before the tie starts. It has helped us adapt to the conditions and build camaraderie. We are excited for the matches to start."
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