School ties behind Chennai Open

The credit for this goes to the Government of Tamil Nadu, The SDAT (Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu) and the consortium of sponsors, who stood by the event in trying times and kept it going. 

When we mention institutions, we tend to forget the roles of some eminent individuals who had played their part in the Chennai Open success; especially, the roles of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa (in her previous term more than 10 years ago) and the one and only Vijay Amritraj in keeping the brand of the event intact. Sponsors came and went in the first five years but when it mattered the most, these two individuals towered over the rest and put together a system that lasts even now. And the role of SDAT is not to be forgotten as it played the mediator part to the hilt. 

In fact, the then sports secretary of SDAT, a senior IAS officer, told me an interesting story about how permission was sought for the event. According to him, he had done some homework to get tennis ace Vijay Amritraj into the scheme of things and through him prepare a draft proposal to the chief minister for further action. 

He wanted Vijay to prepare a letter to the CM. Vijay prepared a letter in the most informal way but with all his plans and proposals in place. “When I looked at the draft proposal, I was shocked. This was not at the content, but the way Vijay addressed the CM, in a typical American way in his informal letter (the tennis ace was already in the US and used to come to Chennai rarely). I told Vijay to change the mode of address and the famous player politely asked me to draft the letter and promised he would sign the letter,” said the official. 

The member secretary drafted a letter thanking the government for the help to sports and put across the point (proposal!), after all the niceties. Then he got an appointment with the CM in her office. “When she walked in, she saw Vijay and immediately asked him to accompany him to her chamber. The proposal did not even require scrutiny and was accepted then and there,” recollects the officer.  

He found out later that Vijay was a junior of the CM, when they were in school. The official said it was an embarrassing moment for him and he felt Vijay’s letter even in its original form would be fine. 

I met both Vijay and the then member secretary during this year’s tournament on the same day, same stand. Vijay doesn’t remember the little things that happened before the meeting with CM and simply said, ‘She was brilliant’. But the secretary, who is in a different department now, still has memories of that day which launched the Chennai Open, as it is known today.