With East Asian doors shut, Indians fan out wide

China, Japan, Korea and Thailand have been off the tennis map for two years

The East Asian ATP Challenger circuit has been a happy hunting ground for Indians. Yuki Bhambri and Prajnesh Gunneswaran have won a combined seven ATP Challenger titles and all have come in India and East Asia.

However, the complete washout of tournaments in China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand for two full years because of the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a body blow. The period has coincided with India having no player in the singles top-150.

Against a yearly average of 22 Challengers in the region from 2017 to 2019, only two were held in 2020. Though the total number of Challengers around the world in 2021 (147) was on par with pre-pandemic levels (average of 157 from 2017 to 2019) after a lowly 57 in 2020, there were zero Challengers in East Asia. Not a single event figures in the calendar released until April 2022 too.