Hyderabad, India  •  Est. 1980  •  In Memory of Nagabhushanam Tenali  •  Builder of Institutions

Vol. XLV  —  The Complete Record  —  A Tribute to a Founder

Tenalis Lion Mark — Sport Surfaces since 1980

TENALIS

The Life of Nagabhushanam Tenali — Forty-Five Years of Courts, Schools, Institutions & the Love of Sport

“He didn't build a company. He built a community.”

In 1980, Nagabhushanam Tenali looked at Hyderabad and saw what was missing. Not one thing — everything. Schools. A sports culture. A nursing college. A bank. A hotel. He set about building them all.

“He founded eleven institutions. Each one was his answer to a gap he refused to accept.”
— Tenali family, Founders Day tribute, 2024
Nagabhushanam Tenali — founder portrait
Nagabhushanam Tenali — Hyderabad.
Founder. Builder. The Lion.
From Tennis Courts to Trinity Bank

Tenalis sports surfaces was only one chapter of a much larger story. Nagabhushanam Tenali also built Rose Buds School, the Hyderabad School of Nursing, Trinity Bank, Durga Bhavani Hotel, and more — a portfolio of institutions that served Hyderabad across generations.

Today, under the banner of Sweat Surfaces — Get Out, the sports legacy continues. But the full story of the man must be told.

Portrait of Nagabhushanam Tenali — warm, dignified, smiling
Nagabhushanam Tenali — Hyderabad.
“Build what is missing. Then build the next thing.”
Nagabhushanam Tenali with tennis racquet, mentoring a student at a Tenalis event
Mr. Tenali at a Tenalis coaching event — still in the game, still giving back.
✦  The Man  ✦
In the beginning

Nagabhushanam Tenali —
A Name That Built a City.

Nagabhushanam Tenali was not from a tennis family, nor a business family in any conventional sense. He was from a Hyderabad family that believed that the right response to a gap in the world was to fill it. That belief turned into eleven institutions — schools, a bank, industries, a hotel, a nursing college, a sports management company, and most famously, the sports surfaces empire that carries his name.

In 1980, when tennis in India was a sport for the privileged few, when wooden racquets were still swung on red clay in old colonial clubs, Nagabhushanam Tenali founded Tenalis in Hyderabad. He built courts. He trained coaches. He organised tournaments. He laid the foundation for a tennis culture in the city that would outlast him.

“The court doesn't care who your father was. If you can play, you can play.”
— Nagabhushanam Tenali

But sport was only one dimension. The man who built the courts also built Rose Buds School for children who deserved better education. He founded the Hyderabad School of Nursing for those who needed a path into healthcare. He started Trinity Bank, Durga Bhavani Hotel, and multiple industrial ventures. Each institution was his answer to something missing. He saw gaps and closed them — with buildings, with people, with purpose.

The Full Legacy

Eleven Institutions.
One Extraordinary Life.

Most men build one company. Nagabhushanam Tenali built eleven institutions — each one serving a different need in the Hyderabad community he loved. Tennis was his passion. But education, healthcare, banking and industry were his commitments.

“Happy Founders Day — a tribute to a man who didn't just found a company. He founded a community.”
— Tenalis family, Founders Day 2024
🇬🇧
Tenalis SportsTech UK Ltd. International reach — Hyderabad to the United Kingdom. His vision extended beyond India.
Rose Buds School logo
Founded 1980
Rose Buds School
The same year as Tenalis sports — a school and a sports empire, born together.
Founding Properties of Nagabhushanam Tenali
Rose Buds School
Education · Founded 1980
Hyderabad School of Nursing
Healthcare · Training
Sports Management Centre
Sport · Professional Services
Trinity Bank
Finance · Community Banking
Srinivasa Metal Industries
Manufacturing · Industry
Agile Industries
Manufacturing · Enterprise
Durga Bhavani Hotel
Hospitality · Hyderabad
NSB Enterprise
Business · Commerce
Sunrise High School
Education · Youth
Sai Ram School
Education · Community
Tenalis SportsTech UK Ltd.
International · United Kingdom · The global ambition of a Hyderabad dreamer
Also recognised by
UK Government  •  Rose Buds School  •  Sports Management Centre
The Chronicle

Forty-Five Years,
One Extraordinary Mission.

1980
One Year. Three Institutions Born.

In a single year, Nagabhushanam Tenali founded Tenalis sports surfaces and Rose Buds School. The same impulse that built courts built classrooms. He saw two gaps and filled them simultaneously. His first commissions were completed for less than competitors quoted — and at higher quality than anyone expected.

Nagabhushanam Tenali — founder portrait from Founders Day
Nagabhushanam Tenali — the founder. Portrait from the family Founders Day tribute, 2024.
Early 1980s
Playing & Building Simultaneously

Even as he built courts for others, Nagabhushanam Tenali kept playing. District-level competitor. Tournament regular. His credibility with players came from the fact that he was one of them. His understanding of the bounce came from his own forehand. Every court he laid was also a court he tested with his own game.

Nagabhushanam Tenali mid-swing on court
Mr. Tenali on court — building courts by day, playing on them in the evening. The credibility came from being both.
1985
The Coaching Academy & More Schools

Tenalis adds structured coaching — among India's first to pair court construction with coaching programmes. In parallel, Nagabhushanam Tenali founds Sunrise High School and Sai Ram School, expanding his education footprint. “Build the court. Build the player. Build the child.” Three missions running simultaneously.

1990s
“The Lion of Tennis” — A Name Earns Itself

By the mid-1990s, Nagabhushanam Tenali had built more tennis courts in Hyderabad than anyone in history, organised tournaments, trained coaches, and founded the Hyderabad School of Nursing, Trinity Bank, and multiple industrial ventures. The Hyderabad tennis community called him the Lion. Not given. Earned.

Nagabhushanam Tenali reviewing tournament plans with his team
Organising a tournament — the administrator behind the Lion. Papers, plans, and purpose.
2000s
Five-Star Hotels, National Commissions & Going Global

Tenalis builds courts for India's most prestigious addresses. In parallel, Tenalis SportsTech UK Ltd. is incorporated — taking the Hyderabad vision to international soil. A man who started with one court in the old city of Hyderabad now has a company registered in the United Kingdom.

Est. 1878
Secunderabad Club
One of the five oldest clubs in India — founded by the British Garrison. When they needed courts rebuilt to international standard, they called Tenalis.
“The oldest clubs have the highest expectations. Tenalis never made them lower their standard.”
Hyderabad
Taj Krishna & Taj Banjara
The Taj group's Hyderabad properties — where guests expected courts that matched the rooms. Tenalis built surfaces where the bounce was as reliable as the service.
“If the court isn't worthy of the hotel, the hotel is diminished. Tenalis understood this.”
International
Tenalis SportsTech UK Ltd.
Incorporated in the United Kingdom — the global chapter of a Hyderabad story. The Lion's reach extended across continents. Recognised by the UK Government.
“He built in Hyderabad. He thought for the world.”
2010s
ISB. Heritage. Champions. Vindication.

The Indian School of Business commissions Tenalis. Heritage Xperiential in Gurgaon follows. Then the names India watched on television: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Sania Mirza — choosing Tenalis. The Sports Management Centre is established as a professional services arm. Every institution Nagabhushanam Tenali built was now pointing in the same direction: excellence without compromise.

The Victories
Tournaments. Trophies. A Community That Played.

Tenalis didn't just build courts — it built a tennis culture. Under the lights on courts Nagabhushanam Tenali had built, Hyderabad's tennis community gathered to compete, celebrate, and remember why they played.

Trophy presentation at a Tenalis tournament — rosette badges, pride
Prize-giving at a Tenalis-organised tournament — Hyderabad. The nights that made the game real.
In Memoriam
Nagabhushanam Tenali — The Lion at Rest

When Nagabhushanam Tenali passed, he left behind eleven institutions, hundreds of courts, thousands of students, and a philosophy that could be expressed in a single sentence: see what is missing, then build it.

“He never watched a match without pointing at the court. Always the court. Always checking if the bounce was true.”
— Tenalis family
✦  The Chapters  ✦

What He Built.
Why It Matters.

01
The Philosophy
See What Is Missing. Build It.

Nagabhushanam Tenali did not found one company because he had one idea. He founded eleven institutions because he had eleven answers to eleven problems Hyderabad had. This was his operating principle: wherever he saw a gap — in education, sport, healthcare, banking, manufacturing — he moved to close it.

The tennis courts were built because Hyderabad's players had nowhere to play. The schools were built because children deserved better. The nursing college because healthcare needed trained people. Each institution was the same act, performed in a different sector.

Nagabhushanam Tenali — warm portrait
Nagabhushanam Tenali — the man who believed the right response to a gap was to build something. Eleven times.
02
The Obsession
The Bounce. Always the Bounce.

Those who worked with Nagabhushanam Tenali remember one thing above all else: his obsession with the bounce. Every court he built was tested the same way — he would drop a ball at twelve points across the surface and listen to it.

“If the bounce isn't true, the court isn't done.” Clients remember him returning weeks after completion to re-test. Not because something was wrong. Because he needed to know. This precision applied equally to a court surface, a school curriculum, or a bank ledger.

Nagabhushanam Tenali at planning table with team
Mr. Tenali in deep discussion with his team — the same precision he brought to court surfaces, he brought to every institution he founded.
03
The Player
He Built What He Played. He Played What He Built.

Nagabhushanam Tenali was not a court builder who happened to understand tennis. He was a tennis player who built courts. He played competitively into his later years. The racquet in his hand was not a prop — it was his instrument of quality control.

The credibility of Tenalis came, in large part, from the fact that the founder could outplay most of his clients. When he said a surface was right, it was because he had tested it under match conditions himself. That is a standard that has never been lowered.

Nagabhushanam Tenali mid-swing on court
Nagabhushanam Tenali playing — the builder who never stopped being a player. The racquet tells you everything about the man.
04
The Victories
Tournaments. Trophies. Champions. A Nation Noticed.

Under the lights on courts Nagabhushanam Tenali had built, Hyderabad's tennis community gathered to compete and celebrate. By the 2010s, the names India watched on television were choosing Tenalis for their own courts.

Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Sania Mirza — players who knew what a good surface felt like. And internationally, the UK Government recognised Tenalis SportsTech UK Ltd., placing Nagabhushanam Tenali's work on a global stage. The Lion of Tennis in Hyderabad had built something that the world noticed.

Trophy presentation at Tenalis night tournament
Prize-giving at a Tenalis tournament. The victories that made the community real — rosette badges, trophies, and forty-five years of purpose.
✦  Voices  ✦

Those Who Knew Him.

Words from the people who played on his courts, learned in his schools, and worked by his side.

“He was on site at 6am every day. Not checking on us — working with us. You can't fake that to a team.”
— Former construction supervisor, Tenalis
“My daughter learned to play on a Tenalis court. Then I found out it was the same man who built the court I played on in 1987.”
— Hyderabad tennis parent, 2015
“When I arrived at the Hyderabad club as head coach, the first thing I checked was the courts. Tenalis-built. I didn't need to check anything else.”
— National tennis coach, India
“He came to the school, walked the courts, didn't say a word. Then he called and said he'd fix the gradient at no charge. Nobody asked him. He just noticed.”
— Sports Director, private school, Hyderabad
“In the industry, Tenalis meant two things: it will cost what it costs, and it will be perfect. You never had to ask twice.”
— Hotel facilities manager, ITC Group
“He used to say sport doesn't lie. The court doesn't lie. The ball doesn't lie. Only people lie. Build honest courts.”
— Tenalis family
The Torch Passes
🦁

The Legacy Lives On.
Under a New Battle Cry.

Eleven institutions. Forty-five years. Hyderabad to the United Kingdom. Now the next chapter begins under the banner of Sweat Surfaces — Get Out. Same obsession with quality. Same lion. A new generation's language.

The New Era → SWEAT SURFACES Get Out  •  Tennis · Badminton · Tracks · Pickleball