Rohan Bopanna being a top-10 player not only gets a direct entry but also has the choice to pick his partner for the men's doubles event irrespective of his ranking.
Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna on Monday officially returned to top-10 in the ATP ranking doubles chart, securing a direct entry into the men's doubles event of the Rio Olympic Games.
After exiting the French Open at quarterfinal stage, Bopanna needed defending champions Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig to lose in the semi-finals to return to top-10. As Melo and Dodig lost, Bopanna gained a position to be ranked 10 in the doubles chart issued on Monday.
Veteran Leander Paes, who also made the quarterfinals, gained five places to be placed 46 now. Bopanna being a top-10 player not only gets a direct entry but also has the choice to pick his partner for the men's doubles event irrespective of his ranking.
The next best players in the doubles for India are Purav Raja (103) Divij Sharan (114), Saketh Myneni (125), Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (134) and Mahesh Bhupathi (164).
Paes will have to forego his claim on the mixed doubles event to be able to play in his seventh Olympics as efforts are being made to convince Bopanna to accept him as a men's doubles partner for the Rio Games.
The 42-year-old Paes' dream of appearing in a record seventh Olympics may remain a dream if Bopanna decides to play with a player, ranked lower than Paes, since it would mean the veteran cannot go to Rio.
For the lack of enough higher-ranked players, India can field only one team in men's doubles. The piece of history that Paes is eyeing is clearly in the hands of Bopanna and the winner of 18 Grand Slam titles will have to let go of his wish to play with Sania Mirza in mixed doubles, a format in which Paes has excelled in the last 18 months, completing a 'Career Grand Slam' with his latest triumph at the Roland Garros.
A tense AITA is trying to ensure that no bad blood is created this time before the Olympics and everyone gets to play. Bopanna has not revealed his choice as yet but it has been learnt that AITA is likely to ask him to pair with Paes, keeping in mind the popular sentiment as well his ability.
"It makes sense if number one and two players of the country play as a team. Even a layman would also think that way. Rohan, no doubt, has the choice but here it is question of nation and not an individual. We are hoping that common sense will prevail," an AITA official told PTI.
"And Leander is no less than Rohan. Yes, his ranking has gone down but he did not have a steady partner for some time. He played well at the French Open also. We do not intend to interfere but we will act in way which is in the best interest of the nation," the official added.
In the women's doubles chart, Sania Mirza continued to be joint world number one with Swiss partner Martina Hingis. Prarthana Thombare was second-highest ranked player at number 209. In the singles, Ankita Raina dropped out of top-300 as she lost 10 spots to be 306.
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