The 2015 Aircel Chennai Open Tennis Championship took place at the Nungambakkam Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) stadium in Chennai between January 5 and January 11, 2015. It was the 20th year for the Chennai Open. The event is an ATP 250 (Association of Tennis Professionals) event. In the past years, the tournament had attracted names such as Boris Becker (played in 1998), Patrick Rafter (1998), Rafael Nadal (2004), and Carlos Moya (2005).
Some of the top seeded players participating in the event this year were Stanislas Wawrinka (ATP rank #4), Feliciano Lopez (#14), Roberto Bautista Agut (#15), David Goffin (#22), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (#36), Yen-Hsun Lu (#38), Marcel Granollers (#46), Gilles Muller (#47), Pablo Carreno Busta (#51)and Jiri Vesely (#66). The Indian players in the fray included Somdev Devvarman (#138), Ramkumar Ramanathan (#215), N. Vijay Sunder Prashanth (#557) in singles. Twelve-times doubles Grand Slam Champion Mahesh Bhupathi (ATP doubles rank #336), ten-times Major winner in doubles Leander Paes (#28), Purav Raja (#146), Saketh Myneni (#186), ), N.Sriram Balaji (#221) and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (#261) played in doubles.
The winner in singles was Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka, who beat Slovania’s Aljas Bedene in the finals 6-3,6-4.The doubles winners were Yen Hsun-Lu and Jonathan Marray, who beat top seeded Leander Paes and Raven Klaasen 6-3,7-6(4). While the singles winnerWawrinka goes home with $72,490, the doubles winning duo, Lu and Marray get $22,020.
Chennai, being the centre of tennis in India, had many delighted fans excited to see so many tennis stars in their midst. While the crowd boisterously cheered the Indian players, they were equally supportive of other players. At the end of every match, the winner got to hit autographed tennis balls into the stands with a cricket bat – cricket being the national pastime. Even though this reporter was disappointed for not catching a single ball, he cheered himself up by getting autographs from some of his favourite tennis players.
For spectators at the venue, there was the Fastest Serve Challenge in which participants tested their service strength by smashing down their fastest serves. There was also a Market Square where people could take their photo with life-sized models of tennis players. A museum on the Chennai Open also relived its past years.
Dhurai, 17, is a senior year student in school. A student report at YOCee since his middle school years, Dhurai’s interest lie in photography and sports reporting. He is a keen tennis player and cyclist.