The Tamil Nadu Academy for Tennis Excellence (TATE) is a special training program that has been established by TNTA to administer and develop the sport – with Hiten Joshi as its first Director. TATE is appropriately headquartered in Chennai and has an office at the SDAT Tennis Stadium, in Nungambakkam.

The objective of this program is to provide centralized direction and support to the most talented players in the state in the age groups of 14 to 18. The goal is to make some of them world class.

The TATE program was inaugurated in April 2000. This program has three major components.

1) Player Development Scheme (PDS) –

• Potential players in Tamil Nadu are selected on merit by an Expert committee.
• TATE does its best to provide the selected players with equipment and clothing kits.
• TATE essentially charts out a tournament schedule that includes both national and international level tournaments for the players and provides complete financial support for it.
• TATE also schedules coaching camps in coordination with the player’s coaches.
• Assessments of the player’s progress are made on an annual basis.

2)Tournament Schedule –

• TNTA will make efforts to structure a good tournament schedule for the TATE players taking into account factors such as weather conditions, education requirements, financial feasibility, etc.
• These tournaments will be carried out with the assistance of clubs, coaching academies, schools and colleges.

3) Infrastructure Development –

• The TATE office is provided with good IT equipment that helps track the performance of all promising young players in the state.
• TNTA along with the support of the Government of Tamil Nadu will attempt to increase tennis facilities in the state.

The three main principles of TATE are:

• Aiming for Higher Challenges –
  Players having achieved a certain level in their own age groups are encouraged to challenge the next level of play.
• Making the most of Opportunities –
  Tennis coaching, training, tournaments, and equipments are always selected economically. TATE emphasizes on reaping most benefits from all kinds of opportunities they have been provided with.
• The importance of education –
  TATE believes education complements tennis. It is as important as training and practicing for the game. The TATE players are encouraged to pay importance to both education and tennis.

TATE Players and Achievements

R. Arun Prakash	2001 Winner - Boys Under 16 Singles and Under 18 Singles National Hard Court Championships Also gained ATP doubles points for the first time 2002 Winner - Boys Under 18 Singles National Hard Court Championships for the second time
Samrita Sekar	2000 Doubles Finalist Under 18 - DSCL Nationals, Delhi. 2002 Winner - ITF women’s tournament - Singles, Mumbai.
Kamala Kannan	2000 Winner - IOB MCC Under 18 Singles Nationals
Preeti Rao	2000 Doubles Finalist Under 18 - DSCL Nationals, Delhi.
Madura Ranganathan	2003 Winner - ITF Juniors Tournament, Delhi Winner - Under 18 Girls Doubles - Junior Nationals, Chennai. 2004 Winner - ITF Junior Tournament, Malaysia 2005 Doubles Semi Finalist - ITF Women’s Event, Pune Doubles Finalist - ITF Juniors Tournament, Kolkata
Sandhya Nagaraj	2004 Winner - ITF Juniors Tournament, Kolkata 2005 Doubles Winner - National Grass Court Championships, Delhi
Vandana Murali	2003 Winners - ITF Juniors Tournament, Delhi Winners - Under 18 Girls Doubles - Junior Nationals, Chennai.
Sriram Balaji	2006 Winner - Under 18 Singles - DSCL Nationals, Delhi Winner - Under 18 Doubles - ITF Juniors, Chennai
Kelsey Sundaram	2006 Quarterfinalist - Women’s Singles - DSCL Nationals, Delhi Finalist - Under 18 Singles - DSCL Nationals, Delhi Winner - Under 18 Doubles - DSCL Nationals, Delhi
Vikram Aditya Menon Vijay Sundar Prashanth Nandita Chandrasekar Ajay Selvaraj M. Vinod M. Fariz Tariq Jacob Navneetha Kannan Irfan Hussain