Meet Chennai’s Vimalraj Jayachandran, the newly-crowned Tennis Esports champion

Earlier this month as the US Open Tennis Championships drew to a close in New York City, Las Vegas was hosting a tennis tournament as well, but of a different kind — the inaugural edition of the World Tennis Esports Championships(WTEC) organised by the International Virtual Tennis Federation.

Chennai’s Vimalraj Jayachandran who represented India, emerged the winner. 

A professional tennis player for over 16 years who has won the gold medal in the Khelo India Games 2020, Vimalraj says he is thrilled with this win, and says that the countless hours of playing Tennis esports over the last three years has been worth it. 

Played by a mix of amateur and professional players, Esports tournaments such as this one are structured, competitive video game tournaments that draw in a significant number of spectators. From over five lakh players across the world, 16 top players from countries including Switzerland, France, and USA earned their spots in the WTEC finals at Vegas through eight National Leagues and the Tennis Esports tour. 

“To qualify for the finals, I had to play several tournaments in the US time zone, but from my home in Chennai and in the process lost a lot of sleep,” he laughs. “Playing these games is an intense ordeal for many players, and I was thankful that I had a good, comfortable space at home to play out of,” he adds. He was backed by India-based Esports company NoScope Gaming.

During the live stream of the finals, Vimal wears a VR headset and holds a controller in front of a screen where the tennis match he is playing is being projected. He is joined by his opponent, another player wearing a similar headset and the pair serve and rally, with the players in the game onscreen mimicking their actions. 

So how does one play virtual tennis? An athlete himself, who is also a sports commentator, Vimalraj says that there are many similarities between tennis and immersive Esports. “The physics of it all is astonishingly real. You might not have to run as much, but how you move your upper body, the hip-drive shots are all the same,” he says. 

“All one needs to start playing this is to have a VR headset like Meta Quest and download the Tennis Esports app where they can play single or multiplayer VR tennis games. This is the beauty of it all; it doesn’t really matter where you are or what your fitness levels are. Anyone can play and steadily get better at it,” Vimal adds. 

Despite having played many years of competitive tennis, he says there was significant pressure and fear he felt going into the finals. “It was an amazing experience to face off against some of the best players from across the world,” he says. For his triumph, he walked away with $10,000 as prize money.

Having won several national and international pickleball tournaments, Vimalraj, has shifted from playing professional tennis to pickleball over the last few years, and plays and coaches students in Chennai now. He has also been drafted for the Global Sports Pickleball Pro & Challenger League for two seasons in a row, having played for Kolkata last season. He is scheduled to play for Chennai in the upcoming season, and is among one of the two players from South India to be drafted for this league.

He says, “I was also drafted into the draft pool twice at the Major League Pickleball(MLP) Australia twice, and was also drafted and auctioned in the National Pickleball League but ultimately decided not to play. Pickleball is booming world over and it truly is an exciting time to be a part of the sport.”