Indian tennis stars Leander Paes and Prakash Amritraj have been awarded wild cards into the main draw of the Tata Open ATP Tour Championships, slated to be held in Chennai from January 5 to 11.

Prakash, son of Vijay Amritraj, and Stephen, son of Anand Amritraj, have also confirmed to team up in the doubles tournament.

However, Paes, who is recovering from a brain lesion and not played in any tournament since August, has not yet confirmed acceptance to play, the organisers said in a statement.

Prakash, who is the top-ranked Indian in the ATP list, said, "This is exciting time for me. I am looking forward to playing in the Tata Open. It gives me an opportunity to start the season by playing in my father's hometown against some of the top performers on the Tour."

It will also give Prakash a chance to play against some of the world's best players such as Carlos Moya of Spain and Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.

Currently 193 in the ATP Champions Race rankings, Prakash was included in the Indian Davis Cup team for the World Group qualifier against Holland in last September. He performed a grand hat-trick of wins in the ITF Satellite circuit, winning three singles titles, including one in the Masters.