Pro Tennis League format is challenging, asserts Divij Sharan

The fourth edition of the tournament will begin on December 1st.

The fourth edition of the Pro Tennis League is set to take place from December 1st to December 5th at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium. 64 top international and Indian players will participate in the league this time, and all will be divided into eight teams - Bangalore Challengers, DMG Delhi Crusaders, Gurgaon Sapphires, Jodhpur Sankara, Lucknow Aviators, Meerut Stag Babolat Yoddhas, Proveri Supersmashers, and Paramount Proec Tigers.

The reigning Wimbledon Doubles Champion Matthew Ebden will be competing this year, playing for the Gurgaon franchise. This will be the first time the Australian sensation will be competing in a tennis tournament in India. Ramkumar Ramanathan India’s number 1 singles player too will be taking part in the league.

Divij Sharan one of India’s most experienced players will be representing the Jodhpur franchise along with the bright Indian star Digvijay Pratap Singh to name a few. Sharan was once in the top 50 of the ATP doubles rankings but after the Pandemic lost form and slipped outside the top 150. In the 2022 season, Divij Sharan has once again made a good comeback and has slowly started to rise up in the doubles rankings.

Expectations from the league

“This will be the first time I will be playing in the Pro Tennis League and also will be playing in my home stadium at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium which is quite special. I had a look at all the teams and all are shaping up pretty well. Digvijay recently won the nationals and the franchise will be mentored by Ashish who was my senior during the U15 days so it is going to be fun playing in the league.”

Players adaptation to the league which is entirely different to the normal Tennis played 

In the end, it is the one point which we play for and according to me, it does not change much as with cricket if we see there are different formats like Test, ODI and T20 where you use different strategies but here it is just for the points we play for which remains the same.

Also, there are many matches for a single tie so a shorter format will be more interesting and will keep the audience more engaged.

How does this format help the players?

In this format, the players have to be ready from the start itself. If we take the ATP matches then the players have the luxury to make a comeback into the match even after losing the first set but here the format is more challenging where every point counts.

Indian doubles players had a good 2022 season with eight players inside the top 150 in the ATP Rankings.

There is healthy competition among the Indians now with many players having reached inside the top 150. When we play in foreign tournaments we train together which helps us and hopefully we get to see a lot more in the top 100 soon.