41st anniversary of The Times of India, Bengaluru: How KSLTA hit a fierce forehand

Time of India

18-07-2025

If tennis has a home in Karnataka, it is thanks in no small measure to
SM Krishna
, the late chief minister who helped shift gears and move the game along into the new millennium in his two-decade tenure as president of the state body.
Krishna, for whom tennis was an emotion, once consoled himself after an electoral loss with a game played between chalked lines. He was president of Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association from 1999 to 2019.
Sunder Raju, a tennis enthusiast, knocked on Krishna's door at the turn of the millennium with a line that's now a part of folklore in tennis circles. 'Sir, tennis needs you, KSLTA needs you,' Raju had said.
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The KSLTA Stadium nestled in Bengaluru's green bed Cubbon Park was completed in 1976.
It had five clay courts -- four in the stadium and one just outside the main facility -- with unfin- ished stands at one end. That's how it stayed for almost 25 years until the SM KrishnaSunder Raju team took over the space armed with a rubric document titled Vision 2000. Sunil Yajaman, joint secretary of KSLTA and a regular at the stadium as a player, says the place was a favourite hangout in his younger days.
'I remember when India played Sweden in the Davis Cup in 1985, the clay courts were converted to grass courts,' Yajaman said.
'Even then I thought this place had so much potential.'
Yajaman was one of the three people, along with Raju and RT Narayan, who had reached out to SM Krishna in the lead-up to the 1999 assembly elections. Raju had asked Krishna to lead the state body. 'It will be a pleasure, tennis is in my heart always,' Krishna had said.
By the time the new committee took over the KSLTA, SM Krishna was chief minister. The first order of business for the new committee at the stadium was to host a big international event.
The aim was to use the championship to raise funds to improve the unkempt facility.
Some 12 months later, in December 2000, a new-look KSLTA stadium hosted the ATP World doubles championship.
Yajaman, who was coaching at the time, had shifted to Delhi as All India Tennis Association's talent development officer. When he returned, the stadium wore a whole different look: the stands were finally complete and had bucket seats.
The tightly lined clay courts had given way to three synthetic match courts in addition to the one outside.
'Krishna's love for the sport was the foundation for the growth of tennis in Karnataka,' Yajaman said. 'The way I see it, it was Sunder's vision and Krishna's leadership, with RT Narayan working tirelessly behind the scenes to pull off mega events. At that time, KSLTA went through a transformation that many of us who played on those courts in the 1980s could only dream of.'
The last five years has seen the facility -- now eponymously called the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium -- take on club status. The tennis venue, spread over two acres, has a multicuisine restaurant, a mini pool and rooms for lodging.
It is among the better -- if not the best -- of club houses among sporting facilities in the state. Yajaman underlined that the most significant contribution of the SM Krishna-Sunder Raju team was to take the game to Tier two sectors.
'It started in Kalaburagi in the early 2000s, Tumakuru, Chikkamagaluru and Davanagere. Now we have tennis in some 12 districts,' Yajaman noted.
Rohan Bopanna
, the former doubles No.1 and evergreen pro, applauded Krishna's contribution. 'I was 19 when the ATP World Doubles was held in Bengaluru. To watch so many international players here was a huge inspiration to me,' he said.
'Under Krishna's leadership, tennis went to so many districts in Karnataka,' Bopanna added.
'I was one of those players who went to all these districts, played tennis there and enjoyed the atmosphere, playing in front of spectators who were enthusiastic about the sport. A lot of youngsters give up tennis because it's too difficult to travel, getting visas is not easy, hosting this level of tournaments is a huge help to the players.
'
Raju said Krishna's leadership was the key.
'Not only in Karnataka but tennis in India was routed through SM Krishna.
There was an opportunity to host the ATP World Doubles Championship and within a month of his election as the President of KSLTA in 1999-2000, he promptly said, 'Yes.' India was the last venue to host an independent ATP World Doubles Championship.'
The KSLTA followed up the World Doubles Championship with an assembly of international events – including the Legends Tour that brought the incomparable Bjorn Borg to the city, and WTA tournaments that saw American rockstar pros Serena and Venus Williams grace the Cubbon Park facility.
It is only fitting that the KSLTA will have an additional state-of-the-art facility in the next five years. Located in Yelahanka, 20km from the Cubbon Park set-up, the new stadium will be on a seven-acre plot. The plan is two have two show courts and 12-14 additional all-weather courts.
'We want to make it a facility that will host a couple of Tour-level events in a year, along with Challengers and Futures tournaments,' Yajaman said, 'Most of all, we hope that it will serve as a tennis hub for Indian players.'
Making Bengaluru a base for tennis in the country would, perhaps, be the best way to thank SM Krishna for his leadership, underscoring his love for the sport with more of the same emotion.