Pro Tennis League set to begin on December 18

Some of the leading players of the country Saketh Myneni, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Vijay Sundar Prashanth, Vishnu Vardhan, Arjun Kadhe, Siddharth Vishwakarma, Sriram Balaji and Sidharth Rawat will be in action in the Pro Tennis League to be played at the RK Khanna Stadium Complex here from December 18 to 22.

The eight players will figure in eight teams, which would compete on a league cum knock-out basis. Each team will also have prominent former players like Vishaal Uppal, NItten Kirrtane, Vijayant Malik, Vivek Shokeen, Ashutosh Singh and Tushar Liberhan apart from athe current player VM Ranjeet.

Each team will have one junior and a veteran.

Coaches Vivek Satyajit, Nar Singh, Arun Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Chandra Bhushan and Gauri Shankar will be ‘’mentors’’ for different teams.

The teams will be divided into two groups of four each and compete in the league phase. The top two teams from each group will make the semifinals.

Each tie will have five matches_two singles and three doubles. The teams have to go through the whole set of matches in each contest, and the team winning maximum number of matches will be the winner. Each match will be a one-set contest, with the first to reach six games with a difference of two emerging as the winner. In case of a tie, a 10-point tie-break would be played.

Each tie will start with a match between the juniors, followed by doubles. The third match will be featuring the professional players. There will be two doubles matches thereafter. Only doubles teams need nomination, as the singles players will be automatic choice.

The team owners, mentor and players can sit on court during the matches and cheer for their team. They can have on-court coaching as well. However, use of mobile phone would not be permitted ‘’on court’’.

The announcement was made on the eve of the Pro Tennis League at the RK Khanna Stadium on Monday. Some of the players like Saketh Myneni, Vijay Sundar Prashanth, Siddharth Vishwakarma, Sidharth Rawat and VM Ranjeet were present at the venue. Many other players like Arjun Kadhe, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Vishnu Vardhan and Sriram Balaji were scheduled to arrive. Most of them were in transit after the annual Premjit Lal tennis event, organised by the former Davis Cup captain Jaidip Mukerjea, that concluded in Kolkata on Sunday.

The teams:

Group-A: Mohun’s Aces; Court Kings; Tennis Fanatics; Sankara Aces.

Group-B: Raisoni Achievers; Stag-Babolat Yoddhas; Surya Warriors; Vamos Delhi.