by Suman Gupta
Mumbai, 25th September 2024:Ahead of the highly-anticipated sixth season of the Tennis Premier League (TPL) powered by Clear Premium Water, the eight franchises came out all guns blazing at the auctions at Sahara Star, Mumbai on Wednesday. The star-studded evening saw the presence of the tennis icons Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, who gathered together after many years to promote the sport, along with Bollywood celebs Rakul Preet Singh and Sonali Bendre.
After an intense four rounds of bidding that saw plentiful twists and turns, all the teams assembled highly competitive rosters, featuring a mix of fascinating talent from across the globe.
The 22-year-old Armenian rising star Elina Avanesyan, who will be competing in the tournament for the first time, earned the highest bid of INR 42.20 Lakh from Priyesh Jain-owned and Taapsee Pannu-backed Punjab Patriots. Despite facing a stiff competition from other teams, Patriots fought tooth and nail to rope in the World No. 47 player in their squad from the Diamond category, showcasing their intent for the title. Punjab managed to lock in Arjun Kadhe from the Men’s Platinum Category at the base price of Rs 5 Lakh, and played strategically in the final round of auctions, waiting late till the end to buy Mukund Sasikumar for Rs 6.80 Lakh.
The defending Champions Bengaluru SG Pipers bought the second-most expensive player of the evening, roping in two-time Grand Slam mixed doubles title winning Australian Max Purcell for Rs 42 Lakh. The Rohan Gupta-owned franchise, who has Indian Tennis icon Mahesh Bhupathi’s as the CEO for SG Sports, entered late into the bid for Purcell, but outbid their oppositions to reserve his services. Bengaluru bought Olympian Ankita Raina for Rs 5 Lakh to further bolster their squad and doubled down on their intent to buy doubles specialists by roping in Anirudh Chandrasekar for Rs 4 Lakh.
The last year’s finalists Bengal Wizards owned by Mr. Yatin Gupte and backed by Indian tennis legend Sania Mirza, formed a solid squad once again by buying Croatian tennis star Petra Matric, who has won two singles tour on the WTA tour in her career, at her base price of Rs 35 Lakh. Saving money in the kitty, the Wizards performed magic in the second category of players, by playing their Right to Match card for veteran star Sriram Balaji and earned his services for Rs 6.20 Lakh, earning much applause from the crowd for the brilliant strategic play. Bengal bought Niki Poonacha for Rs 3.80 Lakh to close out their squad on a high, winning yet another close battle in the final round of the evening.
Gujarat Panthers, owned by Ramku Patgir, showcased they have closely studied the previous years’ auctions and tournaments, and made tremendous moves at the auctions. The franchise made the blockbuster move to buy star player Sumit Nagal at his base price of Rs 35 Lakh, and then fought hard to buy AITA ranked No. 1 female player Sahaja Yamalapalli. Regaining her services for Rs 7.80 Lakh, Gujarat further bought in doubles specialist Vijay Sundar with a high bid of Rs 11.5 Lakh to fizzle out the competition.
Dr. Veekkas Mahamuni-owned Yash Mumbai Eagles spent heavy on bringing in experienced Romanian tennis star Jaqueline Cristian, who made her mark at the Paris Olympics this year. The franchise showcased their intent to fight for the title as they roped in Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan who recently claimed the doubles title at the Hangzhou Open 2024 tennis, earning his first ATP title. Mumbai once again had to wage a long battle in the last round to secure services of Karan Singh, but fought till the end to ensure they are able to secure the talented star in their roster.
Shrachi Delhi Rarh Tigers owned by Rahul Todi and backed by Leander Paes went big for Indian veteran star Rohan Bopanna, despite tough fight from other franchises. Bopanna, who became the oldest player in history to earn World No. 1 ranking after the Men’s doubles title win at the 2024 Australian Open, was a huge win for Delhi, setting them up for the auctions for success. Belarus’ Iryna Shymanovich was next on Delhi’s radar, but once again the franchise faced intense competitions from other franchise for the Belarus star. The long-drawn out bidding for Iryna further cemented Delhi’s relentless pursuit of excellence ahead of the season, and the franchise closed the proceedings with a quick buy of 27-year-old Tunisian player Aziz Dougaz.
The new franchise on the block Chennai Smashers, owned by Vipul Bansal of Hi-Tech Pipes and Dharmender Goel of Ganga International School, backed by Bollywood superstar Sonali Bendre, did not show any ounce of inexperience at the auctions, and made a smart buy for French youngster Hugo Gaston, who has garnered much attention over the years for his unorthodox style of play. Chennai went for Swiss veteran Conny Perrin in the next round to balance the youth with experience and then roped in Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli, who has 2 challenger titles, 8 ITF titles to his name.
Tennis Premier League Co-founder Kunal Thakkur expressed his happiness over the successful auctions for Season 6 and said, “We are overwhelmed with the response received for the auction and sincerely thank all the team owners, ambassadors and mentors for coming together to make this event such an emphatic success. It was fantastic to see the tennis legends Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza gather together after so many years to promote tennis in India and support the league.”
Mrunal Jain, co-founder of TPL, echoed the sentiments and said, “The exciting bidding wars is what makes the auctions. Today, all the teams executed their plans to perfection and did not settle for anything below excellence. The fact that the top icons of Indian tennis fraternity – Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza – gathered for the auctions has already given the upcoming edition a memorable start and promises an exciting season ahead.”
The TPL tees off at the iconic Cricket Club of India in Mumbai in association with the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) and Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA). The Innovative Tennis League will run from 3rd December 2024 till the 8th of December 2024.
