The All India Tennis Association (AITA) ( hi, अखिल भारतीय टेनिस संघ), is the governing body of

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

in India. It was established in 1920 and affiliated by

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...

and

Asian Tennis Federation The Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) is a non-profit organization affiliated with the International Tennis Federation. It is a continental body of national tennis associations of Asian countries. The ATF's main objectives are to raise the quality sta ...

. All India Tennis Association operates all of the Indian national representative tennis sides, including the

India Davis Cup team The India men's national tennis team represents India in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the All India Tennis Association. History India competed in its first Davis Cup in 1921 but has yet to win the Cup. India finished as runn ...

, the

India Fed Cup team The India Billie Jean King Cup team represents India in the WTA & ITF Billie Jean King Cup professional tennis competition and are governed by the All India Tennis Association. They will compete in the Asia/Oceania Zone of Group I in 2016. H ...

and youth sides as well. AITA is also responsible for organising and hosting tennis tournaments within India and scheduling the home international fixtures.

History

Tennis was introduced in India in the 1880s by British Army and Civilian Officers. Soon after, regular tournaments like the 'Punjab Lawn tennis Championship' at

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

(Now in Pakistan) (1885); 'Bengal Lawn Tennis Championship' at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(1887) and the All India Tennis Championships at

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

in (1910) were organised. Initially the British like TD Berrington and LC Ogbourne won these championships, however slowly Indians started picking up the game. Mohd Saleem of Lahore won the Punjab Championship in 1915 and thereafter consecutively from 1919 to 1926. In 1917 NS Iyer lifted the Bengal Championship. In 1919 Mr. Nagu picked up the prestigious singles crown at the All India Tennis Championship at City's Gymkhana Club at Allahabad. Henceforth the Indians started playing the game with greater distinction. In March 1920, the All India Lawn Tennis Association was formed at Lahore. At this meeting the constitution and by laws were framed on the lines of the constitution of Lawn Tennis Association of Britain. In November 1920, the first AGM of AILTA was held at the Town Hall at Delhi. Samuel Perry O'Donnell, a British member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) was elected as the first president. In this meeting, it was decided to hold the annual 'All India National Championships' at Allahabad and to participate in Davis Cup competition. In its debut, Indian team consisting of SM Jacob, Mohd Saleem, LS Deane and AA Fayzee upset a stronger French team to reach the semi finals. With AITA at the helm of affairs, different Provinces formed Provincial Associations (now known as State Associations and were affiliated to parent organisation. An Inter Provincial Tournament was organised with effect from 1922. Punjab LTA led by Mohd. Saleem became the first champions. This yearly competition continued till the eve of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1939). Around the early 1980s the name of the association was changed to the 'All India Tennis Association'. From the beginning of the 1990s tennis in India has started getting a new look. The financial position of the association has improved considerably. The association constructed a full-fledged modern National Stadium at Delhi with a seating capacity of 5000 spectators in 1996.

Headquarters

The AITA organisation has its headquarters in Delhi's

R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex R. K. Khanna Tennis Complex is a tennis stadium in New Delhi, India. It has a centre court, six match courts and six warm-up courts. It has a capacity of 5,015.XIX Commonwealth GamesRK Khanna Tennis Complex/ref> About The stadium was opened ...

. Until 1996, the organisation was functioning from temporary places like

now

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

London Olympics

On 15 June 2012, the All India Tennis Association on Friday chose Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for the men's doubles event of the London Olympics. However Mahesh Bhupathi showed his reluctance to play alongside Paes. AITA has decided to send two teams for Olympics,

Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...

and

Rohan Bopanna Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His tennis singles, singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member ...

as one team and the other team consisting of

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men' ...

and

Vishnu Vardhan Vishnu Vardhan (born 27 July 1987), also known as J. Vishnuvardhan, is a professional tennis player from India. He won bronze medal in men's doubles at 2010 Asian games in Guangzhou, China. He paired-up with and Sania Mirza for mixed doubles an ...

Format of tournaments

AITA conducts the following types of tournaments: *Talent Series *Championship Series *Super Series *National Series *Two Nationals - Hard Court and Clay

References

External links

All India Tennis Association website
{{National Members of the International Tennis Federation Tennis in India Organisations based in Delhi T

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Sports organizations established in 1920 1920 establishments in British India