Greater Chennai Corporation Rolls Out Public Tennis Courts At Thirumalai Nagar Park

With the announcement of its recent climate-resilient budget, the Greater Chennai Corporation has started to roll out its implementation roadmaps, with projects ranging from smart parking management to its recent announcement of two tennis courts being constructed in Thirumalai Nagar Park II and III in Perungudi.

The elite sport, tennis, has had a reputation for being accessible to a targeted niche crowd. Demystifying the sport requires community precinct infrastructure, which is seen in the recent declaration of GCC's proposal to build two tennis courts in a public park.

The court shall be a clay tennis court, 78 feet long with a width of 27 feet for singles and 36 feet for doubles. There shall be a seating space and floodlights to aid night matches and another room for net and equipment storage.

The GCC also gave legroom to hire a third-party company to ensure disciplined maintenance if there is a surge in demand and the need for regulated monitoring surfaces. Other initiatives of GCC include the smart bike scheme and under flyover projects like installing solar lighting facilities and landscaping under flyovers like Rangarajapuram and Doveton.

The common public, who play the sport, learn it in affluent schools or colleges that have tennis courts. The sport is otherwise out of the public's reach, though youngsters have aspirations to learn it. We got a lot of requests from enthusiasts, and it was approved this week, said Ravichandran.

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association has further partnered with the Bajaj Group for a 3-year program named “The Next Level" to support 10 promising tennis players from the state. The Adityan ITF M25 tournament was brought back to the SDAT tennis stadium in Nungambakkam to provide ATP ranking points for regional professionals.