Rising costs, lack of government support push tennis to margins in Amritsar

A promising tennis player, Aditya (18), figured in several national ranking tournaments during his seven-year eventful career, yet he abandoned the sport a couple of months ago.

Aditya’s family was unable to meet rising costs of the sport, with his elder sister studying in the final year of medicine. This is not a case in isolation. At the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Tennis Complex, situated in Company Garden, such instances galore.

Tennis has always been an expensive sport, but it started getting costlier due to demonetisation and introduction of GST. Covid gave it a severe jolt, further pushing the sport out of reach for many families.

Coach Naveen Gupta, who has been training players at the complex for the past over 30 years, says tennis has always been an expensive sport, but inflation caused by the Covid pandemic hit the strength of players, who used to train at the Company Bagh facility.

Against a strength of 150-200 in 2012, the number of players at complex now stands at around 50. Once the nine-court facility teemed with players. It not the case anymore as the number has come down considerably.

According to Navin, for an entry-level tennis player the expenditure is close to Rs 8,000 per month, which used to be around Rs 5,000 before the pandemic. For a beginner, a tennis racket costs about Rs 2,500, while a trained player featuring in state and national events requires a tennis racket costing up to Rs 25,000. The cost of a ball is around Rs 150. A player attending a national-ranking tournaments needs around Rs 1 lakh per month to cover travel, boarding and lodging expenses.

It becomes difficult for a family even with handsome earnings to foot the bill of the sport. Active government help is required, which is completely missing at the formative stage and even at the advanced level. Neither equipment nor funds are allocated at the academy level to train greenhorns.

The government should at least provide travel expenses, lodging and boarding facilities for players figuring in national ranking competitions. Pressure of academics and introduction of sports like pickleball and paddle tennis, which look similar to tennis but require less hard work, are also attracting players. Parents looking for instant results for their wards find the new racket sports satisfying as tennis needs lot of hard work and investment. Stamina, endurance and fitness level required for tennis can only be achieved after years of toil.

The facility at Company Bagh charges around Rs 1,700 per month from a player to foot the salaries of nine employees, including two coaches and seven ground staff, for the upkeep of the complex, which also houses a court with national standards.

The complex has produced several national and international players. At present Jagteshwar Singh, who ranked 8th in Asia in 2021, practices at the facility. He had clinched second position in the school nationals in 2022, a position claimed by Punjab after 44 years.

The Punjab Government has also failed to pay attention to the sport. The last tennis coach given by the Punjab Sports Department was Govind Ram, who retired in 2011. Since then tennis has not got any coach from the department.