The National Lawn Tennis Championships of India, originally called the All India Championships, or the All India Lawn Tennis Championships and the Indian National Championships, was a combined (men's and women's) tennis tournament. It was played from 1910 until 1999. It was held in various cities in, India and was played outdoor on multiple surfaces, but mainly grass courts.
Ramanathan Krishnan won most men's singles championships with eight titles overall, and, during the pre-Open era Jenny Sandison and Leela Row won the most women's singles championships with seven titles each, while Nirupama Mankad won the most titles during the open era with five titles.
Lawn tennis in India can be traced back within the first decade of the establishment of the Wimbledon championships with early local championships being established in places like Punjab (1885) and Calcutta (1887). However, there was no national championships, in 1910 colonial officers of the British Raj established the All India Lawn Tennis Championships in Allahabad which was 10 years before the All India Tennis Association was founded. The championships staged both men's and women's singles play and also doubles. In 1946, the All-India Championships tournament was renamed the National Lawn Tennis Championships of India by the India Lawn Tennis Association. After World War 2 until the start of the open era, the event was often held over Christmas and new year and on a few occasions two events were held in a single year in January and December (sometimes winners are described as winning in a year in which an event started in late December, other times in the year the event finished in early January).
The tournament was hosted at different cities around India and was also played on different surfaces, such as grass courts (1910âÂÂ59, 1964âÂÂ66, 1969, 1970, 1973), hard courts (1967) and clay courts (1960âÂÂ61, 1974âÂÂ79). This tournament was also held in conjunction with the Northern India Championships for the years 1962 to 1967. In the open era the event became a minor event for Indian players.
The tournament was staged in different cities for the duration of its run they included:
Included: