The All England lawn Tennis Club (AElTC), organisers of the Wimbledon, have decided to extend the Road to Wimbledon programme in India till at least 2017. Road to Wimbledon tournament arrived in India in 2014 aimed at Boys and Girls at Under-14 level. This year it was extended to four cities (Kolkata, Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai) with the Finals taking place in Delhi now till April 11.
Siddhant Banthia from Pune had gone all the way to win the title in the boy’s category last year. The youngsters enjoyed the support of former Britain number one Tim Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist and Goran Ivanesevic, 2001 champion, to improve their game. The duo along with All England Head Coach Dan Bloxham also held coaching clinics.
Ivanesevic, coach of Marin Cilic, commented that the country needs a role model and someone to break into the top level for the kids to look up to. “This is a big country, so having players in the top 100 and 200 is not good enough. You need a big player, a top 10 player, who is going to make the game popular and by seeing him/her, more kids take up the game,” he said.
Adding that some of the prospective talent is being lost to other big sports, Henman added that it is a situation that UK faces too. “It is just like the UK where we have football as the biggest sport. If you want top athletes and players, you need to start early at around 8-9 years old. With cricket in India, the country is losing players and talent. Hopefully with this tournament there is a chance for them to improve the standard and see more players come in,” he said.