The duo behind Hyderabad Aces

 

The co-owners of the Hyderabad Aces team may call their association with the league “accidental” and “random,” but the conviction to do something for sports comes from deep within.

 

“We were buried in our own schedules when a friend from CTL called with this opportunity. The temptation grew as we heard ‘only the brave can take this up’ as there was hardly a week left for us to pull all of this off,” says Rajesh, 41.

 

The team includes former world number one women’s singles player Martina Hingis, one of the top players in the world, Mark Philippoussis, World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny and India’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. 

 

A national tennis player himself, Rama Raju’s knowledge of the sport was a huge help. Meanwhile, Rajesh, who is a karate black belt, also brought his own share of expertise to planning and execution. “It’s high time we started focussing on all kinds of sports. Although tennis does enjoy the kind of popularity that cricket does world over, such initiatives are a huge motivation for younger and budding athletes,” says the duo.

 

And to add to the glam factor, they have roped in actors Rana Daggubati and Kajal Aggarwal. Explaining the choices, Rajesh says, “While Rana also played tennis in school, Kajal was on board as her mother is a big fan of tennis and she was excited to meet the players too.”

 

And as Hyderabad was set to begin its campaign against Bengaluru at the L B Stadium Tennis Complex on Monday evening, the two said in jest, “If there was one thing we would like to change, it would be that we could have had more sleep.”