Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

They are there for every match of ATP tournament

Staff Reporter

North Brown, 25-26 has been the address of tennis enthusiasts Vidhya Singh and Champa Zainudeen "We even watch the qualifiers when one of our boys (the Indians) are playing. We both really love tennis. Everyone knows where to find us"

REGULARS: Cultivating their own space at the Chennai ATP. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI: North Brown, 25-26. That's been the address of tennis enthusiasts Vidhya Singh and Champa Zainudeen for every match of the Chennai ATP tournament since it started in 1997.

From there, they've watched Boris Becker, Patrick Rafter and once even an elephant volley in the stadium.

"We even watch the qualifiers when one of our boys (the Indians) are playing. We both really love tennis. Everyone knows where to find us," says Vidhya.

Celebrities on the way to the commentator box above always stop to partake sustenance from the duo's snack pack. The most recent person to be fed the menu of the day (samosas) is Charu Sharma.

Even the Indian players such as Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Prakash Amritraj whom they have known personally for years, know where they'll be and have often acknowledged them from Centre Court.

A trip to the stadium

Every year, before the tournament begins, Champa says she takes a trip to the stadium to ensure that the seats are not sold to anyone else.

A man in the next seat confirms: "These two are terrors, no one would dare buy those seats."

Poor turnout

Their numbers have reportedly dwindled, as initially there were 30 of them. This year, the turnout was particularly bad as a lot of people were out of town, says Vidhya.

Anand Amritraj is the only other person from the group to make it but leaves early. The other two, however stay put.

Exciting match

The most exciting match of this year's Chennai Open? "Oh most definitely the Rohan Bopanna-Prakash Amritraj doubles semi-finals win," says Vidhya.

And the most exciting match ever to be played in the SDAT stadium, they both agree, was the one where the Paes-Bhupathi duo won the doubles title for the first time.

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