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HomeSportsTennisIndia need top-50 women's singles player to have big WTA event: Bhupathi

India need top-50 women’s singles player to have big WTA event: Bhupathi

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WTA event, Mahesh Bhupati, WTA, Bhupati, women's singles player

Multiple Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi says for India to host big-ticket WTA events, the country needs to produce a top-50 women’s singles player, who can bring the fans to the stadium.

India has just one WTA event — $125,000 Mumbai Open — but has a number of ITF 25k events, most of them hosted by MSLTA.

Bhupathi cited the example of Sania Mirza, who he says was their sole reason to bring Hyderabad Open in 2005.

India also hosted WTA Tier III Sunfeast Open from 2004 to 2008 but since then there are hardly any WTA events in the country.

“When Sania was playing, there were a lot of people watching. In any sport, you need to have a champion to champion the sport. In badminton, Saina did well, now Sindhu and Kashyap and all are doing well. We don’t have a girl in the top 50 to champion a WTA event,” Bhupathi said.

“We were fortuitous about the timing of our WTA event. We went and chased WTA event and brought it to India because of Sania’s breakthrough.”

Sania Mirza, who recently gave birth to a baby boy, should not rush her return to competitive tennis, said Bhupathi.

Sania and her cricketer husband Shoaib Malik welcomed their first child in October and she has been out of action since the beginning of the 2018 season.

“She will come back when and if she is ready. When you have a baby, priorities are different. When I had a baby, priorities were different. It didn’t come out of my stomach, I can imagine it’s harder for her. So she has to take her time and decisions as they come,” Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed doubles trophy with Sania in 2009, said.

Bhupathi further spoke about the upcoming Australian Open next month and said one should not write off the legendary Roger Federer.

“Four years ago, a lot of people told me Federer can never win a Grand Slam again and then he won three. The genius of Roger Federer, you can never write him off. Of course, he is 37 years old, its going to be tougher for him every year. But you should never write him off in my opinion,” he concluded.

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