List of Indian tennis players with most singles ATP Challenger titles won

Published at :June 11, 2024 at 6:42 PM

Modified at :June 11, 2024 at 6:42 PM

(Courtesy : Twitter/@TampereOpen)

Sumit Nagal is first from the country to win two ATP Challenger titles on European clay.

The ATP Challenger Tour, formally known as the ATP Challenger Series until the end of 2008, is an international men’s professional tennis tournament series. The Challenger Tour tournaments are the sport’s second highest level of competitions conducted since 1978, and there were 18 of them. The Challenger circuit has changed dramatically since then, and with the new programme set to begin next year, we should expect even more significant improvements.

The players on the Challenger Tour are mostly young, looking to advance their careers, those who fail to qualify for ATP events or former ATP players looking to get back into the big tour.

Indian Tennis has had a lot of success on the Challenger circuit, particularly in the doubles event, but we are not far behind in the terms of single victories.

The following Indian singles players have made a name for themselves with singles titles on the ATP Challenger tour:

1. Leander Paes (11)

Leander Paes is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players India ever produced. The Olympic medallist has also won 11 singles ATP Challenger titles. Here is all the ATP Challenger Titles:

Guangzhou Challenger- 1992
Bombay Challenger- 1994
Binghamton Challenger- 1994
Brasilia Challenger- 1995
Mauritius Challenger- 1996
Bangkok Challenger- 1998
Calcutta Challenger- 1999
New Delhi Challenger- 1999
Jaipur Challenger- 1999
Lucknow 2 Challenger- 1999
Bombay Challenger- 2000

2. Yuki Bhambri (7)

Yuki Bhambri is a former junior world no. 1, who won the Australian Open Junior Championship in 2009. He is the first Indian to win the junior Australian open and the fourth Indian in history to win a Grand Slam junior singles title. Yuki has also won seven singles ATP Challenger titles. Here is all the ATP Challenger titles he has lifted:

Fergana Challenger- 2012
Traralgon Challenger- 2013
Chennai Challenger- 2014
Shanghai Challenger- 2015
Pune Challenger- 2015
Pune Challenger- 2015
Taipei Challenger- 2018

3. Sumit Nagal (6)

Sumit Nagal became the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam championship when he won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles title with his Vietnamese partner Lý Hoàng Nam in 2015. He is now the highest-ranked Indian singles tennis player, and he has been a regular member of India’s Davis Cup roster since 2018. He has also won six singles ATP Challenger titles and his career-best ATP rank is 77. Here is a list of all the ATP Challenger titles:

Bangalore Challenger- 2017
Buenos Aires Challenger- 2019
Rome Challenger- 2023
Tampere Challenger- 2023
Chennai Challenger – 2024
Heilbronn Challenger – 2024

3. Somdev Devvarman (5)

Somdev Kishore Devvarman earned headlines for being the first collegiate player to have made three consecutive NCAA finals, winning back-to-back championships in his junior and senior years at the University of Virginia. His 44-1 win-loss record in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship in 2008 is remarkable. Somdev has also won five singles ATP Challenger titles overall. Here is the list of ATP Challenger titles:

Lexington Challenger- 2008
Izmir Challenger- 2010
New Delhi Challenger- 2014
New Delhi Challenger- 2015
Winnetka Challenger- 2015

5. Prajnesh Gunneswaran (2)

Prajnesh Gunneswaran has won two ATP Challenger championships, eight ITF titles, and one ITF doubles title. He is one of the highest-ranked Indian singles players right now. He is India’s Davis Cup representative. He earned bronze in the men’s singles event at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Here is all the singles ATP Challenger titles won by him:

Anning Challenger- 2018
Bangalore Challenger- 2018

6. Saketh Myneni (2)

Saketh Myneni attained a career-high doubles ranking of No. 74 on January 16, 2023. He received the coveted Arjuna Award in 2017 and currently represents India in the Davis Cup. At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, he won a gold medal in mixed doubles and a silver medal in men’s doubles. He has 10 ITF and two singles ATP Challenger titles to his name. In addition, he has 18 ITF and 14 ATP Challenger doubles titles. Here is all the ATP Challenger titles:

Indore Challenger- 2014
Hi Chi Minh City Challenger- 2015

7. Ramesh Krishnan (2)

Ramesh Krishnan (born 5 June 1961) is an Indian tennis instructor and former professional player. He won the singles titles at Wimbledon and the French Open as a junior player in the late 1970s. He went on to reach three Grand Slam quarter-finals in the 1980s and was a member of the Indian Davis Cup squad captained by Vijay Amritraj that reached the final against Sweden in 1987.

At the 1989 Australian Open, Krishnan defeated then-world No. 1 Mats Wilander. In 2007, he was named India’s Davis Cup captain. Here is all the singles ATP Challenger titles, he has won:

Nagoya Challenger- 1989
Nagoya Challenger- 1990

8. Mahesh Bhupathi (1)

Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi is a former world No. 1 doubles tennis. He became the first Indian to win a major tournament in 1997. Bhupathi joined an elite group of eight tennis players who have achieved a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles with his triumph at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles. He also established the International Premier Tennis League. In December 2016, Bhupathi was named India’s next non-playing Davis Cup captain, succeeding Anand Amritraj in February 2017. Here is the ATP Challenger title, he won as a player:

Jakarta Challenger- 1994

9. Ramkumar Ramanathan (1)

Ramanathan Ramkumar has been ranked as high as No. 111 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2018, and No. 58 in doubles in August 2022. He has competed for India in the Davis Cup. In 2018, he became the first Indian player since Somdev Devvarman in 2011 to reach an ATP Tour singles final.

Manama Challenger- 2021

10. Harsh Mankad (1)

Harsh Mankad represented India in the Davis Cup from 2001 to 2010 and was the team’s No. 1 singles player for several of those years.

Manchester Challenger- 2006

11. Rohan Bopanna (1)

Rohan Bopanna attained a career-high singles ranking of world No. 213 in 2007, and his career-high doubles ranking was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. Since 2002, he has been a member of the Indian Davis Cup team. In 2007, Bopanna played doubles with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

Dublin Challenger- 2007

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