East Asia shutdown hurts Indians' progress

Back in February 2020, when the last edition of Bengaluru Open Challenger was held, the threat of Covid-19 was an ominous shadow. Four Challengers in China set for last March were already cancelled and more looked likely to follow suit. Then the world went into lockdown.

Everything stopped. For a time.

The blue planet has spun around the sun twice since, the effects of the virus on the ATP Tour - especially in East Asia - remains harsh.

Indian players have looked towards East Asia a lot in recent years.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran had won the $162,480 Anning Challenger (China) in 2018 and reached the final a year after to climb to his career high ranking of 75. His other Challenger win was in India. He ended the 2019 season playing 10 Challenger events in East Asia. Ramkumar Ramanathan played eight in the same year.

“Being closer to home, it makes it easier to travel. It's quicker to come back if you are out early, always have a bit more time to train that way,” Prajnesh says, explaining the calling towards East Asian tournaments.

“(It is cost effective but) more than that, it’s the surface. Most of the Asian tournaments are hard courts. Indians, generally growing up, have played on hard courts,” says Yuki Bhambri, who has five Challenger titles with three in India and one each in Shanghai and Taipei.

Between 2017 and 2019, East Asia had 24, 22 and 21 Challengers respectively - almost all on synthetic courts - mostly in China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. There were two Challengers in East Asia in 2020, none in 2021 and nothing on the calendar this season till April.

That has been troublesome for Indian players.

“I played in the US far more than what I have in the past, indoor hard in Europe. Most of the other players, who prefer hard court, have been doing the same. Disadvantage is, less events mean the draw is deeper, it gets harder to make results,” says Gunneswaran.

“I think it has affected a lot of Asians, not just Indians,” says Bhambri. "We have seen that in the rankings. But you have to adapt. If there are no tournaments, I guess, the clay season starts early or you play in Europe. Does it hurt us? Yes, it does. But, at the end of the day, there is not much you can do. You go where the tournaments are.”

Interestingly, the total number of Challengers in 2021 is almost the same as the pre-pandemic era as Europe and America has bounced back in terms of sports.

“European countries don't have these restrictions,” says Bhambri. “China, India, Thailand shut down. Four massive countries in Asian region are shut. That is one of the main concerns as you cannot travel. Everybody has had a different approach and for Asia that is the approach.

"Usually in Asia, they have one or two events in the country and it’s not a big deal to scrap them. But in Europe, maybe instead of 30, they will have 20 and it still works for them,” adds Gunneswaran.

“It has definitely been tough,” he goes on. “I’ve been trying to see more openings in Asia, but unfortunately due to Omicron, once again, we have had a setback and may be lost another three to four months. We have accepted that this is the way things are as of now.”

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