French tennis federation ties up with AITA for Roland-Garros Amateur Series

The national tennis championship for juniors will be conducted at the Bowring Institute in Bengaluru from April 30 to May 6

Bengaluru, April 30: The Federation Francaise de Tennis (FFT French Tennis Federation) has tied up with the All India Tennis Association to conduct the Roland-Garros Amateur Series, a national tennis championship for juniors (under-18), at the Bowring Institute in the city from April 30-May 6.

The tournament will see 64 boys and 48 girls compete for the title to win AITA ranking points and a trip to Paris to watch a match of the French Open Grand Slam event. There will be 16 pairs in the boys' and girls' doubles as well.

This is the second tournament in the country that's associated with the FFT, the other being the Roland-Garros Junior Wild-card Competition held in New Delhi. While the winners of this tournament earn themselves a chance to get a wild-card for the Junior French Open, the winners of the Amateur Series get a trip to Paris.

Siddhant J Banthia and Rashmikaa S Bhamidipaty were crowned the winners of the national wild-card competition on April 27. They will compete against the winners of the China and Brazil legs of the same competition to earn their wild-cards.

"The wild-card tournament will see only the Junior top-eight of the country fight it out to earn themselves a spot in the playoffs. The Amateur Series, on the other hand, offers 112 people (64 boys and 48 girls) the opportunity to compete in a Roland-Garros tournament within their country," Adrien Groscolas, international development coordinator of the FFT, said on Monday (April 30).

"All amateur players do not become professionals. Even here, there is only one winner in each category who gets to go to Paris. But we are giving them the experience of playing a first-round match in a clay court, which is the objective of this tournament. We hope that this engagement will inspire the kids to pick up the racquets and play tennis."

AITA's association with the FFT to host the 'Rendez-vous a Roland-Garros' events has been a fruitful one for India. Last year, Abhimanyu Vannemreddy beat his Chinese and Brazilian opponents to play the Junior French Open as a wild-card. In 2016, Adil Kalyanpur, winner of the India wild-card leg, was chosen to be part of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, where he underwent various developmental changes in his game.

Siddhant and Rashmikaa will play their playoff matches from May 26, few days before the qualifiers for the Junior French Open kick off on June 1.