Mumbai: As the curtains came down on the legacy of Chennai Open, Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) decided to take up the mantle and brought the ATP 250 Series tournament to Pune and on Wednesday the logo of the tournament was unveiled by the chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis in a ceremony.
Although it was known that the tournament will be called Maharashtra Open, with a renowned brand like TATA coming on board as a title sponsor, the tournament will now be called TATA Open Maharashtra 2018.
Maharashtra Open, which will be an event as a run-up to the season’s first Grand Slam, Australian Open, will be held at the Balewadi Sports Complex from January 1 to 6, 2018, with qualifiers on December 30-31 this year.
Top players
The Maharashtra Open will see this year’s Wimbledon finalist Croatian Marin Cilic, ranked No. 6 in the world, in action as he prepares for the Australian Open.
Along with Cilic, stars like World No. 14 Kevin Anderson from South Africa, World No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and World No. 42 Robin Haase of the Netherlands to name a few.
Speaking at the event, Maharashtra CM expressed his delight, hosting the tournament.
“We have a lot of tennis lovers in our country and our state who keenly watch tournaments, be it the Wimbledon, French Open, US Open, Davis Cup. All these tournaments are watched on television. But, to watch a high-ranking tournament at the stadium is a visual treat for tennis lovers and also a good learning process for tennis players,” Fadnavis said.
