Ramkumar Ramanathan emerged the surprise pick of the auction, garnering the highest bid of the day of Rs 4.5 lakhs, and was picked by the Mumbai Leon Army, co-owned by Leander Paes and Shyam Patel, to spearhead their challenge in the Tennis Premier League (TPL) 3.0, which will be played in Mumbai later this year.

At the auction on Tuesday, Ramkumar, currently ranked 202 in the world, will have for company Niki Poonacha and Sofia Shapatava of Georgia, ranked 388 in the world.