Harsh Mankad will not be seen in action in his inaugural home ATP event, the Kingfisher Airlines Mumbai Open, starting at the Cricket Club of India on September 25.
He opted to play in the Challengers in the United States since the organisers of the Mumbai event did not confirm his wild card.
"There wasn't a definite confirmation on a wild card from Mumbai. I had to make a decision in the end," Mankad told rediff.com on Thursday.
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On Wednesday, India's top-ranked player Rohan Bopanna and Karan Rastogi were given two of the three allotted wild cards. Mahesh Bhupathi, whose company Globosport is organising the event, and tournament director Gaurav Natekar had both assured that all the three wild cards would be given to Indian players. Which meant that at least the top four ranked Indians -- Bopanna, Mankad, Rastogi and Prakash Amritraj -- would be in contention.
But with Mankad opting out and Prakash also not confirming for the event, the third entry remains a mystery, with the qualifying rounds commencing on Saturday.
India's second-best ranked player on the ATP, at 322, Mankad has had a rocky relationship with the establishment. The 26-year-old was coaxed into joining the Davis Cup team after being named in the reserves for the World Group play-off tie against Sweden last year. He was the highest-ranked Indian then, but the team-management cited that Bopanna and Amritraj had a better grass-court game than him.
Later, he opted out of the Asia-Oceania round one tie against South Korea in February and the relegation play-off against Pakistan in April.
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