Aircel Chennai Open 2015 to be held from January 5-11

Eight of the top 50 ATP ranked players to participate in the event

The Aircel Chennai Open 2015, South Asia’s only ATP World Tour stop, is expected to take place in Chennai from January 5-11, 2015, with the participation of 28 players, including some of the top 25 ATP-ranked players.

This is the 20th anniversary edition of the tournament. Top players participating in the event this year include Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland, ranked fourth in ATP rankings; Feliciano Lopez from Spain, at 14th rank, Roberto Bautista Agut from Spain ranked 15 and David Goffin from Belgium ranked 22.

The wild cards competing in the event are Indian players Somdev Devvarman and Ramkumar Ramanathan, along with Janko Tipsarevic, from Serbia, who is recovering from a surgery. The event carries a prize money of $450,000.

“The event is taking place for the 19th consecutive year in Chennai and we see a lot more interest from all the corners towards the event,” said Ashu Jindal, chief operating officer, IMG Reliance Pvt Ltd, which is the organiser of the event.

The company is giving shape to various activities related to the event, to improve publicity for the event, he said.

The event would be conducted under the aegis of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), in collaboration with Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), along with various sponsors and Government of Tamil Nadu.

M A Alagappan, president of TNTA said that the Rs 2 crore from the State government is helpful to conduct the event. The SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai is also getting renovated for Rs 4.5 crore allocated by the government, he said.

The title sponsor Aircel said that the company has been engaged in promotional activities related to sports events and it has been associated with the Tennis event for the seventh time, this year. Chennai is the bastion of Aircel and the company would hold promotional activities for the tournament, said Renuka Jaypal, national brand head of Aircel.

The Government of Tamil Nadu, Indian Bank, United India Insurance, Murugappa Group and Indian Overseas Bank are the platinum sponsors and . The official sponsor is FedEx, along with other official partners. Star Sports will be the official broadcaster of the event.