Rohan Bopanna felt that not having a great run this time in Wimbledon could be an advantage while getting back to the same venue for the Olympics starting from July 27.
The strapping 32-year-old with a big serve and strong ground strokes was, however, honest in conceding that both Dennis Istomin and his partner Mikhail Elgin had played very well to beat him and Mahesh Bhupathi in the second round of Wimbledon.
“We were disappointed with that loss. Still, the fact that the Olympic tennis will be on grass is a big bonus. I am looking forward to it,” said Bopanna, who along with Bhupathi was toying with the option of playing a clay court event in Hamburg or go to London and prepare for the Olympics.
At 14 and 15 in the rankings list, Bopanna and Bhupathi would love to push their status up so as to ensure a seeding in Olympics. However, they also know that better preparation on grass could pay bigger dividends as there was always a chance of running into a good team early irrespective of being seeded or not.
No weak partners
Dismissing the argument that the No.1 players Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor would have weak partners, Bopanna said that they would be strong even when paired with low ranked partners from Belarus and Canada respectively for the London Games.
“Mirnyi will be playing with a guy, Alexxander Bury, taller than him at 6’7”. On grass they will have a big game.
“Nestor could have partnered singles star Milos Raonic, but they stuck to doubles specialist Vasek Pospisil, a top-100 singles player and who has been part of doubles win in Davis Cup against Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram,” said Bopanna, as he emphasised that no one would be easy while providing an insight into the world of doubles.
Bopanna remarked that playing day in and day out in the circuit would give an advantage to the regular teams and said that it would be best of three sets where a long third set would be an advantage to the regular teams.
He also expressed his happiness about sorting all technical and other issues with Bhupathi in a tough season in which the duo has grown to be the third best national combination in the doubles ranking list.
“It will not be enough to serve big, you have to return well also. We have beaten some good teams like Mirnyi and Nestor, and also Rafael Nadal and Marcel Granollers in Miami,” said Bopanna, in highlighting the Indian combination’s readiness to tackle any opposition.
Pointing at the surprise doubles champions of Wimbledon, Jonathan Marray of Britain and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark, Bopanna observed that the wild card pair had been building itself up from the Challengers before striking it big suddenly.
“Jonathan Marray has played in the Futures tournaments in India a few years ago. The two could not have got into the Wimbledon draw with their ranking and capitalised on a wild card.
“Also, look at what a player like Lukas Rosol did to a great champion like Nadal. That is the beauty of this game. You have to keep at it and stay strong all the time. You never know what you can achieve,” said Bopanna.
