Tennis enjoys a considerable following in India. Although it is limited to urban areas but still it is counted among the most popular national sports. India has produced a number of tennis players, who have achieved international recognition and made their presence in some of the top tennis tournaments and grand slams. All India Tennis Association established in 1920, is the governing body of tennis in India and is a member of the Asian Tennis Federation. India Davis Cup team is the most successful team of Asia in Davis Cup, who has finished as runners-up 3 times.
History Tennis has been a popular sport in India since around the 1880s when the British Army and civilian officers brought the game to India. Soon after regular tournaments like the Punjab Lawn Tennis Championship at Lahore (Pakistan, 1885); Bengal Lawn Tennis Championship at Calcutta (1887), and the All India Tennis Championships at Allahabad (1910) were organised. In the history of major tournaments, India has already beaten among others France, Romania, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Greece in Davis Cup ties (1921 to 1929).
The history of tennis in India goes back a long way. In the 1880s, the British introduced the game of tennis in India during the colonial rule and soon it started gaining momentum. BK Nehru in 1905 and Sardar Nihal Singh in 1908 were later joined by Mohammed Sleem, Fayzee brothers and Jagat Mohan Lal who made it to last 16 stages at the Wimbledon. Ghaus Mohammad was the first Indian to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1939 where he lost to American champion Bobby Riggs.
According to the All India Tennis Association, in Davis Cup ties between 1921 and 1929, India beat, among others, France, Romania, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Greece. Top Indian players like Saleem, the Fayzee brothers, Cotah Ramaswamy and Krishna Prasad beat a large number of ranked European players and teams to bring glory to the nation.
In the 1960s, the sport witnessed a golden era. Ramanathan Krishnan earned his highest seeding – No. 4 in Wimbledon in 1962. In the Davis Cup, India repeatedly became the Zonal Champions. Ramanathan Krishnan, along with Premjit Lall, SP Misra, Jaidip Mukerjea and RK Khanna as the non-playing captain, steered India to the Cup finals in 1966. They lost the Cup but not before Krishnan and Mukerjea beat Newcombe and Tony Roche, the Wimbledon champions, (1965) in doubles.
In the 1970s, Vijay Amritraj burst onto the scene. With teammates Sashi Menon, Jasjit Singh and brother Anand Amritraj, Vijay took India to World Cup Finals for the second time in 1974. Vijay also made it to the quarterfinals of US Open in 1973 and 1981; and Wimbledon in 1973 and 1974. Ramesh Krishnan, the son of Ramanathan Krishnan, won the junior Wimbledon championship and junior French Open title in 1979 and was ranked number 1 junior in the world. He made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon (1986) and US Open (twice).
The 1990s saw the rise of Leander Paes who won the bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1997, Mahesh Bhupathi became India's first ever grand slam winner when he won the mixed doubles at French Open. Paes partnered with Bhupati to reach the finals of all four grand slams in 1999, winning two. In the 2000s and 2010s, playing separately or together, Paes and Bhupati won several grand slam doubles and mixed doubles tournaments.
The 2000s saw India's first WTA tournament winner Sania Mirza. Mirza also won a number of grand slam titles in doubles in the late 2000s and 2010s.
India's last 2010s grand slam win came in 2017 when Rohan Bopanna won the mixed doubles title at French Open. At the end of 2010s, Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the only Indian men's singles player in the top 100. In 2021 Ankita Raina became the 2nd woman from India to win a WTA title and enter into top 100 doubles rankings. India's latest grand slam win came in 2024 with Rohan Bopanna winning the men's doubles title at Australian Open.
In February 2024, Sumit Nagal made his top 100 debut becoming the tenth Indian tennis player to reach the Top 100, which he reached by defeating Luca Nardi in the final of the Challenger in Chennai.
Medal table Competition Gold Silver Bronze Total Olympic Games0011Davis Cup0358Commonwealth Games1124Asian Games1071734 Total 11 11 25 47 Updated till 5 August 2024
Current rankings ATP rankings updated till 18 May 2026. WTA rankings updated till 18 May 2026.
Men's singles # Player Current Rank Highest Rank 1 Sumit Nagal 275 68 3 Manas Dhamne 391 384 2 Karan Singh 415 388 4 Dhakshineswar Suresh 476 463 5 Aryan Shah 515 385 6 Sidharth Rawat 529 430 7 Mukund Sasikumar 536 229 8 Digvijay Pratap Singh 551 485 9 S D Prajwal Dev 640 595 10 Manish Sureshkumar 737 508
Women's singles # Player Current Rank Highest Rank 1 Sahaja Yamalapalli 358 284 2 Vaishnavi Adkar 375 375 3 Vaidehi Chaudhari 423 355 4 Zeel Desai 518 511 5 Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 569 300 6 Ankita Raina 616 160 7 Riya Bhatia 729 338 8 Shruti Ahlawat 752 752 9 Akanksha Nitture 849 725 10 Sonal Patil 917 917
Men's doubles # Player Current Rank Highest Rank 1 Yuki Bhambri 23 18 2 Sriram Balaji 66 60 3 Anirudh Chandrasekar 93 86 4 Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli 113 65 5 Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha 116 98 6 Siddhant Banthia 119 119 7 Arjun Kadhe 138 76 8 Vijay Sundar Prashanth 139 80 9 Ramkumar Ramanathan 196 58 10 Nitin Kumar Sinha 206 206
Women's doubles # Player Current Rank Highest Rank 1 Rutuja Bhosale 122 121 2 Ankita Raina 172 93 3 Prarthana Thombare 188 125 4 Riya Bhatia 273 180 5 Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 394 266 6 Vaishnavi Adkar 415 406 7 Sahaja Yamalapalli 430 408 8 Vaidehi Chaudhari 445 304 9 Vasanti Shinde 566 211 10 Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi 593 593
Source: Tennis Explorer
Highest ranked players Top 100 Ranked Players The list include Indian players who have had a ranking inside the ATP or WTA top 100. The rankings were introduced in 1973 (men) and 1975 (women).
Men's Singles PlayerRankingDate reachedtop 100Date reachedhighest rankingATP TourHighCurrentTurned ProRetiredTitlesVijay Amritraj18N/A1973, 23 August1980, 20 October1970199315Ramesh Krishnan23N/A1979, 21 May1985, 28 January197619938Somdev Devvarman62N/A2010, 2 August2011, 25 July200220160Sumit Nagal682772024, 15 July2024, 15 July20130Sashi Menon71N/A1975, 16 September1975, 21 October197019850Leander Paes73N/A1997, 8 September1998, 24 October199020081Anand Amritraj74N/A1973, 26 September1974, 6 November196819900Prajnesh Gunneswaran75N/A2019, 11 February2019, 22 April20070Yuki Bhambri83N/A2015, 19 October2018, 16 April20070Jasjit Singh89N/A1973, 26 November1974, 3 June196519790
Women's Singles PlayerRankingDate reachedtop 100Date reachedhighest rankingWTA TourHighCurrentTurned ProRetiredTitlesSania Mirza27N/A2005, 14 February2007, 27 August200320131
Notable performances at Olympics Year Event Player Result1924 Men's singles Sydney Jacob Quarter-finals Men's doubles Syed Mohammad HadiDonald Rutnam Quarter-finals1992 Men's doubles Leander PaesRamesh Krishnan Quarter-finals1996 Men's singles Leander Paes 2004 Men's doubles Leander PaesMahesh Bhupathi 4th2008 Men's doubles Leander PaesMahesh Bhupathi Quarter-finals2012 Mixed doubles Leander PaesSania Mirza Quarter-finals2016 Mixed doubles Rohan BopannaSania Mirza 4th
Grand Slam finals In 1997, India won their first Grand Slam title at the French Open, in the mixed doubles. Since then Indians have won Grand Slam titles in the mixed doubles, men's doubles, women's doubles besides girls' doubles events. No Indian has so far won a Grand Slam Singles title in the men's or women's category.
Mixed doubles
OutcomeYearChampionshipSurfacePlayersOpponents in the finalScore in the finalWinner1997French OpenClay Mahesh Bhupathi Rika Hiraki Patrick Galbraith Lisa Raymond6–4, 6–1Runner-up1998WimbledonGrass Mahesh Bhupathi Mirjana Lučić Serena Williams Max Mirnyi4–6, 4–6Winner1999US OpenHard Mahesh Bhupathi Ai SugiyamaDonald Johnson Kimberly Po6–4, 6–4Winner1999WimbledonGrass Leander Paes Lisa Raymond Anna Kournikova Jonas Björkman6–4, 3–6, 6–3Runner-up2001US OpenHard Leander Paes Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs Todd Woodbridge6–4, 5–7, 6–7 (9–11)Winner2002Wimbledon (2)Grass Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Likhovtseva Daniela Hantuchová Kevin Ullyett6–2, 7–5Winner2003Australian OpenHard Leander Paes Martina Navratilova Eleni Daniilidou Todd Woodbridge6–4, 7–5Runner-up2003French OpenClay Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Likhovtseva Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan3–6, 4–6Winner2003Wimbledon (3)Grass Leander Paes Martina Navratilova Anastasia Rodionova Andy Ram6–3, 6–3Runner-up2004Australian OpenHard Leander Paes Martina Navratilova Elena Bovina Nenad Zimonjić6–1, 7–6Runner-up2005French OpenClay Leander Paes Martina Navratilova Daniela Hantuchová Fabrice Santoro3–6, 6–3, 6–2Winner2005Wimbledon (4)Grass Mahesh Bhupathi Mary Pierce Tatiana Perebiynis Paul Hanley6–4, 6–2Winner2005US Open (2)Hard Mahesh Bhupathi Daniela Hantuchová Katarina Srebotnik Nenad Zimonjić6–4, 6–2Winner2006Australian Open (2)Hard Mahesh Bhupathi Martina Hingis Elena Likhovtseva Daniel Nestor6–3, 6–3Runner-up2007US OpenHard Leander Paes Meghann Shaughnessy Victoria Azarenka Max Mirnyi6–4, 7–6(8–6)Runner-up2008Australian OpenHard Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza Sun Tiantian Nenad Zimonjić6–7(4–7), 4–6Winner2008US Open (3)Hard Leander Paes Cara Black Liezel Huber Jamie Murray7–6, 6–4Winner2009Australian Open (3)Hard Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza Nathalie Dechy Andy Ram6–3, 6–1Runner-up2009WimbledonGrass Leander Paes Cara Black Anna-Lena Grönefeld Mark Knowles7–5, 6–3Runner-up2009US OpenHard Leander Paes Cara Black Carly Gullickson Travis Parrot6–2, 6–4Winner2010Australian Open (4)Hard Leander Paes Cara Black Ekaterina Makarova Jaroslav Levinský7–5, 6–3Winner2010Wimbledon (5)Grass Leander Paes Cara Black Lisa Raymond Wesley Moodie6–4, 7–6Runner-up2011WimbledonGrass Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Vesnina Iveta Benešová Jürgen Melzer3–6, 2–6Runner-up2012Australian OpenHard Leander Paes Elena Vesnina Bethanie Mattek-Sands Horia Tecău3–6, 7–5, [3–10]Winner2012French Open (2)Clay Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza Klaudia Jans-Ignacik Santiago González7–6(7–3), 6–1Runner-up2012WimbledonGrass Leander Paes Elena Vesnina Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan3–6, 7–5, 4–6Runner-up2014Australian OpenHard Horia Tecău Sania Mirza Kristina Mladenovic Daniel Nestor3–6, 2–6Winner2014US OpenHard Bruno Soares Sania Mirza Abigail Spears Santiago González6–1, 2–6, [11–9]Winner2015Australian Open (3)Hard Leander Paes Martina Hingis Kristina Mladenovic Daniel Nestor6–4, 6–3Winner2015Wimbledon (4)Grass Leander Paes Martina Hingis Alexander Peya Tímea Babos6–1, 6–1Winner 2017 French Open Clay Gabriela Dabrowski Rohan Bopanna Anna-Lena Grönefeld Robert Farah 2–6, 6–2, [12–10]Runner up 2018 Australian Open Hard Tímea Babos Rohan Bopanna Gabriela Dabrowski Mate Pavić 6–2, 4–6, [9–11]Runner up2023Australian Open Hard Rohan Bopanna Sania Mirza Luisa Stefani Rafael Matos6–7(2–7), 2–6
Men's doubles