By Grand Slam

NEW DELHI, Oct 3 (www.dsclopentennis.com) - One of the biggest questions which keeps springing to the mind of tennis lovers is: After Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who? Prakash Amritraj is maturing, Harsh Mankad works hard, Vijay Kannan has found new confidence in his own abilities and Vinod Sridhar is also good enough to make it to the finals at ITF events now.

Where does the DSCL Open, which is the single National tennis championship, fit in such a scenario? Overseas, even in the US, they have a hardcourt National Championship where the standard of play is quite high. So, if the top players do not turn up for the Nationals, it is not the tournament that loses but the players themselves.

Compared to most other sport at home like table tennis, squash and badminton, the prize money offered by the DSCL is high enough to woo the best players at home. And if two players from Pakistan - Aqeel Khan and Nomi Qamar - have been invited this time, it is with the intention of raising the standard of play and ensuring the Indians do get a chance to compete hard.

Flip through the records and you will see Vijay Kannan, Punna Vishal, Nitin Kirtane, and Sunil Kumar have all been in and out of the Davis Cup squad as reserves or the fourth members. This time, if young faces like Sanam K.Singh and Tushar Liberhan come good, DSCL would have attained its objective of promoting tennis at the National level.

Not many would be aware when Uzma Khan won the under-18 and women's titles at the DSCL Open few years back, she was simply unbeatable. Ankita Bhambri won the title at the DSCL in 2003 December and then exploded on the big stage by qualifying for the WTA event in Hyderabad and also shone in the Fed Cup in May at home.

Big names are conspicuous by their absence this time as well, but you can be sure that the emergence of new talent is very exciting. Sanaa Bhambri, who has been improving in stature, is one face which would stand out in the crowd. So if she gives the seniors a run for their money, it would be a feather in the DSCL National cap.

After all, for a precocious teenager, Rs 80,000 prize money can come in handy for training or playing abroad.