The game of Tennis has a long and rich history in India and its popularity is increasing day by day, since its inception. The game was brought into India by the British Army and Civilian Officers during 1880s and it got immense popularity among the Indians within no time. Several Tennis tournaments started to be organised during the later half of the 19th century and some of the major tournaments were the Punjab Lawn tennis Championship at Lahore in 1885; the Bengal Lawn Tennis Championship at Kolkata in 1887. The year of 1910 is considered to be a milestone in the history of Indian Tennis, as the first All India Championship in tennis was organised in Allahabad, in that year. Both Men and Women Tennis players participated in the championship.

Most of the earlier Tennis championships organised in India were being dominated by the British players. However, the scenario changed during the first half of the twentieth century, when Mohammad Saleem became the first Indian to win the Punjab Championship in 1915. Saleem continued his dominance in the tournament and won successive titles from 1919 to 1926. This phenomenal winning streak of Mohammad Saleem encouraged several other Indians to take up Tennis. In 1917, NS Iyer became the winner of the Bengal Championship and a couple of years later in 1919, Mr. Nagu won the Singles Championships at the All India Tennis Championship at City`s Gymkhana Club at Allahabad. That period is one of the most memorable ones in the history of Indian Tennis, as the Indian tennis players started dominating the Tennis scenario after that.

With the increasing popularity of Tennis in India, the need of a batter management of Indian Tennis was felt strongly. The year 1920 was another milestone in the history of Indian Tennis, as in that year, the All India Lawn Tennis Association (AILTA) was formed at Lahore. The AILTA was established as the national governing body for Tennis in India. The AILTA prepared laws and rules of Tennis, following hose of the Lawn Tennis Association of Britain. The AILTA also decided later in that same year that, it would organise the All India National Championships at Allahabad, every year. The AITA made it mandatory for each Province to have Provincial Tennis Associations and the Provincial associations will be affiliated to the parent body. All these Provincial Associations are now known as the State Associations.

The first ever Inter-Provincial Tournament in the history of Indian Tennis was held in the year 1922. The competition became a regular feature in India until the Second World War broke out in 1939. India participated in the Davis Cup for the first time in 1921 and the performances of the Indian players were quite impressive. They defeated the French players and also entered into the semi-finals of Davis Cup, in their very first appearance. During the decade of 1920s, India showed better performances than most of the other Tennis playing nations like France, Romania, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Greece. The legendary Indian Tennis players like Mohammad Saleem, the Fayzee brothers of AH Fayzee and AA Fayzee, Cotah Ramaswamy and Krishna Prasad, were counted among the best in the world during that period. The Indian players also started participating in the other international tournaments during the middle half of the twentieth century. B K Nehru was the first Indian to play in the prestigious Wimbledon championship during that time and the other players like Sardar Nihal Singh, M. Saleem, Fayzee brothers and Jagat Mohan Lal also took part in the tournament, in the following years.

At the end of World War II, the AILTA decided to hold one Grass court championship called the National Championships of India and one Hard Court tournament named All India Hard Court Championships. The first Grass Court National Championship in the history of Indian Tennis was held at Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1946. Legendary Indian Tennis players, Ramanathan Krishnan had the credit of winning the championship for a record eight times in a row between 1953 and 1964. India hosted the Asian International Championship in Kolkata for the first time in 1949-50.

The decade of 1950s is considered to be the golden era in the history of Indian Tennis, as the Indian players got significant successes at the international arena, during that period. Ramanathan Krishnan became the first Asian to become the Junior Wimbledon Champion in 1950s. Ramanathan Krishnan, along with Jaidip Mukerjea and Premjit Lal dominated the Indian Tennis scenario during the 1960s also. India also won the Zonal Championships and made it to the Inter - Zonal finals in the Davis Cup, during that period. Another legendary Indian Tennis player, Vijay Amritraj started showing his excellence on the Tennis court during the 1970s. He along with his brother Anand Amritraj, Shashi Menon and Jasjit Singh helped India in reaching the World Cup Finals in 1974. He also showed some outstanding performances in several Grand Slam tournaments.

The decades of 1980s in the history of Indian Tennis, belonged to Ramesh Krishnan. He was the son of Ramanathan Krishnan and he became successful to win both the junior Wimbledon and the junior French title in 1979 and climbed to the World No.1 ranking in Junior Tennis. He also played brilliantly in the Grand Slam tournaments like Wimbledon and US Open, during the middle half of 1980s. Krishnan played a pivotal role in helping India reach the Davis Cup finals for a third time in 1987, as well.

The decade of 1990s demands a special mention in the history of Indian Tennis, as it was the time, when the Indian Tennis players started to win Grand Slam titles, regularly. Two of the greatest Indian Tennis players, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi started dominating the Men`s Doubles scenario of the world, during this period. Leander Paes won the both the Junior Wimbledon and Junior US Open titles during the first half of 1990s. He has also been showing exceptional performances in Davis Cup for India by pulling off outstanding victories. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi together won all the four Grand Slam tournaments during the later half of 1990s and the first half of 2000s. The duo also climbed up to the No. 1 spot in the Doubles World Ranking.

In the first decade of the new millennium, another star named Sania Mirza started to play extraordinarily in the international circuit and made her name into the history of Indian Tennis. She has been continuously playing well in the Grand Slam tournaments; however, she has not won any title in the Grand Slams, till now. Apart from Sania Mirza, Somdev Devburman has recently come up as the new star of Indian Tennis by defeating players ranked higher than him in the World Rankings.