Rio 2016: Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza India's best bet for medal

For tennis players in India, despite them playing on the professional circuit throughout the year, the Olympics is always a long-term goal. Tennis players go to an Olympics hopping from tournaments to tournament, but I don't think it's any tougher or easier than the other athletes. Yes, the other sports have fewer events in the build-up to an Olympics, and that's why their focus is more on the Games. But even for tennis players, especially in India, winning a medal at the Olympics is always a priority. So, while it is tough on the one hand for tennis players to focus solely on the Olympics, it is always there at the back of the their mind.

As for this Olympics, India's best chance of a medal will lie in the mixed doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza. But it's not necessarily due to their rankings (World No. 15 and 1, respectively), because if you look at the players that are slated to participate, some of them are ranked 2, 3 or 4 in singles. So, there's going to be terrific competition, and winning an Olympic medal is not easy. A lot of people I know are saying that we have a very good chance of winning a medal in mixed doubles, but while it is our best chance, Sania and Rohan need to really play their A game to have a shot at that. It will also be important for lady luck to smile on them.

There's no doubt that they complement each other very well in terms of their styles of play. Other than the fact that Sania plays forehand court and Rohan backhand court, I feel both of them have a very big game. So, if they're on – if Rohan is serving well and getting his returns and Sania is doing her stuff at the back of the court – they can beat anybody on their day. Hopefully, that will happen in the first two rounds.

As for the men's doubles, nobody really knows how the Rohan-Leander Paes pair is going to come out. I watched them play at the Davis Cup (against Korea). They seem to know each other's movements quite a bit. They could've easily taken their game up by three to four notches. That match would've done them a world of good in terms of believing that if they play well, they have an outside chance. Obviously, the draw has to favour them a bit. They also have to make sure that they remain fit and injury-free.

Their selection controversy wasn't ideal, but everybody is a professional and they will get over it once they're there. Yes, the last time it happened for an extended period of time (2012 London Olympics). This time, it was very short and very sweet, and thankfully it was nipped in the bud by all parties concerned. I know for a fact that they have put it behind them and are ready to give their best shot at the Olympics.

It's important to respect your partner on and off the court, not only as a player but also as a person. You need not be the best of friends. In team games that are larger than two players, every person cannot have the same equation with the others in the team. There's always going to be pulls and pushes, mini-cliques that are going to be formed. It's not negative, it's just that some people get along better than the others. So, this whole thing about will Rohan and Leander gel, will they not gel, are they best friends off court is really not important. I believe you don't have to be best friends off court. Not liking each other and not wanting to play with each other does not mean that the players hate each other. It's something that each player has an opinion about, and he/she knows their as well as the other's game.

Leander going for his seventh Olympics is a tremendous achievement in itself. His contribution to Indian sport, not just tennis, has been phenomenal. I don't think anybody plans to play three, four, five and six Olympics. The dream for every athlete is to first play an Olympics and then win a medal. The really great athletes have long-term goals, but they also have short-terms goals as to what they need to do over the next 24 hours, three months, six months and one year. It's all about having that discipline.

And while Leander is a great role model for India, everybody is forgetting Prarthana Thombare. If you look at her story, I think that is an equally inspiring story – if not more – in terms of where she has come from, what she has done, what her parents have done, and the fact that she is the youngest in the team, playing her first Olympics. Given her journey, it's a hugely inspirational story. Especially since people say that 'Oh, tennis is a rich man's game and only the metros are playing it'. This is where the story of Prarthana needs to be told: here is a girl coming from a very small town where there wasn't even a tennis court, and today she is representing India along with Sania at the Olympics.

For her to get selected at the Olympics at such a young age with three other players who are ranked very high and have achieved so much for India is phenomenal. I know she is going to take this as an opportunity to soak up the atmosphere and learn by speaking to the other players. That will hold her in really good stead when she actually starts playing on the tour on her own.

Overall, I don't think anybody expects a medal from the Indian tennis contingent. Yes, we want a medal and we hope for it. In terms of expectations, Indians have always been an emotional lot, and they will always put up everybody on a pedestal when they do well and when they don't, they will get rocked right down. That's part and parcel of being a sportsperson in India, and the tennis players going there understand it. They will put their best foot forward, I have no doubt about that. And we will hope and pray that things do work out well.

If it does, and if we win a medal in tennis, the sport will get a big fillip. People will hopefully put aside the controversies that have happened in the last two Olympics and focus on the positives from thereon.

The writer represented India in the Davis Cup from 1992-97, and was a double gold medallist at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1996