Match point, anyone?

Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA)

Venue: RK Khanna Tennis Stadium, Africa Avenue
Director (coaching): Nar Singh
Fee: Rs. 26,000 annually (for beginners)
Timings: 4pm to 7pm
Entry age: 6 years
Phone: 011-26193955

Established in 1975, Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) is the state body of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and one of the best training centres in Delhi.

Besides promoting lawn tennis and holding various state level events, DLTA also runs training programmes for beginners and senior players.

“We have around 14 coaches who have been allocated classes according to their own experience and seniority. Our chief coach is Arun Kumar, who was one of Indian coaches during Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010,” says director (coaching), Nar Singh.

Beginners too can get admitted to DLTA. One-hour training sessions are held thrice a week for them in the evenings. Once they move to the next level, coaching and practice hours become more rigorous.

DLTA has another branch at Modern School, Barakhamba

Himanshu Tennis Clinic (HTC)

Venue: C-23, Hauz Khas
Senior Coach/owner: Himanshu Chaturvedi
Fee: Rs. 8000 annually (for mini tennis); Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1200 monthly (for beginners); Rs. 1500 monthly (for intermediate level); Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3000 monthly for (tournament level)
Timings: 8am to 1.30pm and 3.30pm to 7.30pm
Entry age: Four-and a-half-years
Phone: 011-32324701/41654701

Founded by Himanshu Chaturvedi in 1984, Himanshu Tennis Clinic (HTC) is India’s first private tennis training institute. A former tennis player himself, it was Chaturvedi’s passion for the game, that led him to set up this academy.

HTC is today a pioneer tennis institution, engaged in coaching, organising tournaments, conducting camps, tennis seminars, refresher courses for coaches and interaction programmes with other tennis institutions. Its two prominent tennis centres in Delhi are Kathuria Public School Sports Academy in Vasant Kunj and ASN Senior Secondary School in Mayur Vihar I.

HTC’s chief coach, Polly, a national champion during the 1990s, has produced many national players. Ria Bhatia and Salwan, HTC’s latest products, have won national-level tournaments

Team Tennis India Private Limited

Venue: DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex
Chief coach : Aditya Sachdeva
Fee: Rs. 3600 annually (for mini tennis); Rs. 18000 annually (grassroot development); Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 15,000 monthly (for junior development)
Timings: 9am to 7pm
Entry age: 3 years
Phone: 011-65175384

Founded in 2003, Team Tennis India Private Limited has been running several lawn tennis training academies in Delhi NCR in collaboration with various clubs, schools and colleges.

Jaideep Bhatia, director of Team Tennis, whose motto is to promote tennis among kids, says, “We pick good students from mini tennis programmes for the next level of training called ‘after school’. At present we have around 120 to 130 coaches giving training to 10,000 kids at various places in Delhi NCR.”

Team Tennis also has two centres — DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex and Panchsheel Club; and three player development centres — Gulmohar Club, Gargi College and General Raj School, Hauz Khas.

The chief coach Aditya Sachdeva and his team have groomed players like Yuki Bhambri, Tara Iyer, Ankita, Sanaa among others

SAI’s Day Boarding Scheme

Venue: East Vinod Nagar Sports Complex, Mayur Vihar, Phase - 2
Chief coach: Chandra Bhushan Prasad
Fee: Selected players get a stipend of Rs.600 every month. No fee for government school students
Timings: 6am to 9am and 3pm to 7pm
Entry age: 14 years
Phone: 9810989896

Sports Authority of India under the Ministry of Sports runs a day boarding lawn tennis training scheme for which students are selected at various levels such as state, national and international for specialised training.

“Vacancies are advertised in newspapers and students are admitted on the basis of their state, national and international ranking. At present we have 10 students who have excelled in national and international competitions. They are being trained at East Vinod Nagar Sports Complex, Mayur Vihar, Phase - 2. Besides the monthly stipend, they are given Rs. 3000 for every competition plus rackets, balls, clothes etc,” says an SAI officer.

Both this complex and Ludlow Castle School No 1 are open only for students of Delhi government schools who get training free of cost

Pro Tennis Academy

Venue: DDA sports complex, Vasant Kunj
Chief coach/Owner: Vinod Kumar
Fee: Rs. 500 monthly (mini tennis); Rs. 2000 monthly (intermediate/advanced)
Timings: 8am to 11am and 3pm to 7pm
Entry age: 7 years
Phone: 9810024669

After working with Delhi Lawn Tennis Association for 22 years, Vinod Kumar decided to open his own tennis academy in 2007.

“Out of my 22 years in DLTA, I worked for 12 years as a chief coach and produced many top players such as Anshuman Aga and Tushar Gautam. One of the leading tennis players Vishal Uppal is also my student. But I decided to start my own academy and opened Pro Tennis Academy with some like-minded professionals,” says Vinod Kumar.

At the moment PTA runs two training centres — DDA sports complex, Vasant Kunj and Paschim Vihar. “In Vasant Kunj, we have five synthetic tennis courts and competent coaches who train intermediate and advanced level players in the morning. We keep our evening hours free for mini tennis and junior level players”

Challenger Tennis Academy

Venue: DDA sports Complex, Rohini
Chief coach: Balram Singh
Fee: Rs. 500 monthly (mini tennis); Rs. 2000 monthly (intermediate/advanced)
Timings: 4pm to 6pm
Entry age : 5 years
Phone: 9312238747

One of India’s top tennis players in the 1960s, Balram Singh got into coaching in the 1980s. To him goes the credit of producing many top international level players such as Rohit Rajpal and Mark Ferreira. He also coached the Indian team from 1989 to 1992.

“Challenger Tennis Academy runs training programmes in DDA Sports Complex, Rohini. Besides, I am also associated with two other training institutes — DLTA’s branch at Modern School, Barakhamba and the branch at Khalsa College, Delhi University. At Khalsa and Rohini I mainly get those students who want to play tennis for fun,” he says.

According to Singh, centres like DLTA, DDA Sirifort Sports Complex etc are some of the centres where one can get professional training. “At Modern School, Barakhamba, we have six tennis courts and good coaching facilities. I have some really talented children who can bring laurels to the country in the future,” he says

Mongoose Tennis Academy

Venue: Mount St Mary’s School, Delhi Cantt and Poorna Prajna Public School, Vasant Kunj
Chief coach/owner: Shekhar Menon
Fee: Rs. 2500 monthly (for beginners); Rs. 3000 monthly (for Intermediate) and Rs. 4000 monthly (for advanced)
Timings: 8am to 1pm and 4pm to 7pm
Entry age : 4 years
Phone: 9810299749

Shekhar Menon has over 20 years of experience in imparting lawn tennis training and has coached more than 5000 students in Delhi till date.

“I ran Shanti Tennis Academy for almost 17 years but unfortunately it was demolished by a Supreme Court order in 2009. It was a big jolt to my love for the game but last year I started a new academy — Mongoose Tennis Academy,” he says.

Why was the academy named Mongoose? “I wanted to develop mongoose-like traits in my students. In every fight between a mongoose and a snake, the former emerges the winner because it waits patiently before going for the snake’s neck. That’s the winning attitude I want to inculcate among upcoming players.”

At present there are around 500 children at both the centres and some of the are doing well both at the junior and sub-junior levels

Peninsula Tennis Academy

Venue: DDA Sports Complex, Siri Fort
Chief coach/Director: Bobby Singh
Fee: Rs. 2000 to Rs. 10000 depending on various levels of training
Timings: 6 am to 9 am and 4pm to 7pm
Entry age: 3 years
Phone: 01124335705, 01141550949

Bobby Singh is an alumni of the prestigious St Stephen’s College who during his college days was Delhi University and St Stephen’s tennis captain. He is also a former junior tennis champion and winner of several zonal and state championships.

“We are the first to involve superstars of Indian tennis such as Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan and Jaideep Mukerjee in coaching juniors. The academy combines the latest tennis technology in the West with the time-tested teaching traditions of the Indian masters,” says Bobby Singh, director PTA.

Some of the prominent PTA centres are at DDA Sports Complex at Siri Fort, Saket Jasola, Suraj Mal Vihar and Dhallupura

Cosmic Sports Center

Venue: Rao Tula Ram College, South Delhi Campus, Benito Juarez Road and Maj Dhyan Chand Sports Complex, Ashok Vihar, New Delhi
Chief coach/director: Karan Rai
Fee: From Rs. 1100 to Rs. 2400, depending on the level and centre
Timings: 4.00pm to 5.30pm, Second session: 5.30pm to 7.00pm
Entry age : 5 years
Phone: 9810114072

A sports management concern, Cosmic Sports Center (CSC) is involved in the promotion of tennis through tennis coaching centres in Delhi. It has 20 years of experience in training tennis players.

“Our aim it to provide result-oriented professional tennis coaching programmes at our centres and to ensure that children are taught with love and affection. We instruct our coaches to keep this in mind. We instill discipline among children so that they not only become good tennis players but also good citizens when they grow up,” says Karan Rai, managing director, CSC.

At Rao Tula Ram College centre, there are a total of 10 qualified and experienced coaches while at Maj Dhyan Chand Sports Complex, there are seven qualified coaches including the chief coach Mumtaz Ali who is a qualified AITA level-3 coach. CSC owns a total eight clay courts, two synthetic courts and one mini court