Tennis
PTL 2022 Auction: Riya Bhatia and Ramkumar Ramanathan highest-bid players
PTL 2022 Auction saw Riya Bhatia emerge as the highest bid player and Gurgaon Sapphires securing the Wimbledon Champion Matthew Ebden.
PTL Trophy and PTL Coffee Book were unveiled by India's Davis Cup Captain Rohit Rajpal in presence of team owners of PTL.
Pro Tennis League 2022 kicked off with the auction on 16th October 2022 in the Davis Cup Lounge at RK Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhi.
The auction process started with the founder of the Pro Tennis League Mr Aditya Khanna addressing the dignitaries, team owners and players present. Khanna said, " We are excited to host the best of Indian tennis and an international star like Matthew Ebden in our tournament. PTL is like a tennis carnival for all the fans and other personnel related to the game."
"The main motive of the PTL has been to promote the youngsters and build a healthy tennis ecosystem. I am grateful that people have recognized our motive and come forward to support this initiative."
With ex-pro players already allotted to the 8 teams who also acted as mentors, the auction kicked off with India's number 1 Ramkumar Ramanathan attracting big bids from most of the teams. Eventually, Bangalore Challengers secured the services of the experienced player. 2-time Wimbledon champion Matthew Ebden was snapped by Gurgaon Sapphire.
Other big names such as Vishnu Vardhan. Arjun Khade and Divij Sharan went to Rajasthan Tigers, Meerut Stag Babolat Yoddhas and Jodhpur Sankara respectively. 2022 Fenesta Men's Singles National Champion Manish Sureshkumar went to the ProVeri Supersmashers and 2022 Fenesta U-18 Junior National Champion Denim Yadav, who also won the Road to PTL Delhi edition went to Meerut Stag Babolat Yoddhas.
The highest bid of the auction was secured by Riya Bhatia who will play for ProVeri Supersmashers.
Doubles pair Sharmada Balu and Sravya Shivani went to Gurgaon Sapphires and Lucknow Aviators respectively.
Bangalore Road to PTL winner Maanav Jain went to Jodhpur Sankara. Road to PTL winners from the women's section Kavya Khirwar and Yashwaswini Panwar went to DMG Delhi Crusaders and Jodhpur Sankara.
Unveiling the trophy of PTL, India's Davis Cup Captain Rohit Rajpal said, " I am pretty excited about this edition of Pro Tennis League. The organisers along with DLTA have been doing a brilliant job in terms of promoting tennis with their PTL. It is a great platform for the youngsters to rub shoulders with pro players and gain experience."
PTL Coffee Table book was launched on the occasion with previous memories of PTL editions.
Launching the book, Davis Cup coach of India and tennis legend Zeeshan Ali said, "I'm excited to be playing as well after many years. This is such a great platform for everyone to enjoy the beautiful game of tennis. Leagues have done great for every sport and it will do the same for tennis."
" It is a good chance for everyone. The youngsters can get the experience of playing with the pros such as Matthew Ebden and Ramkumar Ramanathan and the pros to have a good chance to impart their knowledge."
Season four of the Pro Tennis League is scheduled from 1st to 5th December in RK Khanna Tennis Stadium, New Delhi.
