After two successful events, a gold medal at the Asian Games and winning the Maharashtra Open earlier this month, the Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan pairing had a tough outing at a Grand Slam, losing to the Spanish duo of Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia Lopez in a three-set match in the opening round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
With the Davis Cup tie next month against Italy, where a win could get India to the finals later in the year, it has not been the ideal start for the pair which is likely play the doubles rubber in that tie but Bopanna is not overly concerned.
Speaking to The Hindu at his Airbnb residence here on Thursday, Bopanna said, “you don’t want to lose in the first round but we played a good match against a team that have been playing together for a longer time than us and has even made the finals of a Slam in the past.”
Best chance
India will play Italy in Kolkata on grass and Bopanna feels the surface offers the best chance for the host to beat a side that will start as overwhelming favourites with strong players like Fabio Fognini, Andreas Seppi and Simone Bolelli in its ranks.
Despite the blip here, the duo plans to play together for the whole year, putting a proper Indian team on the doubles map again with both players in the top 40 in the rankings.
“I feel it will take two to three months to understand each other. After Pune, we would have loved to do well but over the next few days and weeks, we will be practising to build on that partnership. We hope to get into most major tournaments and our aim is to qualify for the ATP Finals in London as a team,” said the 38-year-old.
Complementing each other
Apart from bringing a left-right combination, Bopanna feels his powerful returns complement Divij’s ability at the net with his good anticipation skills.
“This is a fresh partnership. But by only playing matches and having the coach watch videos of our match, we will get better. I have played against left-right combinations and it is not easy to get into a rhythm. So once we can start working it into our strength, we will get better.”
Bopanna, who won the French Open mixed doubles title in 2017, added that a partnership with a Indian player always helps on the tour.
“It is not just about things on the tennis court but even off-court it is good to have someone from your own country. It helps raise the profile of the game seeing two Indians fighting amongst the best and hopefully we can inspire some young kids.”
Bopanna will be playing the Australian Open mixed doubles from Friday, partnering China’s Yang Zhaoxuan.
(The writer was in Melbourne at the invitation of Airbnb)
