Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna lost in straight sets.
Less than 24 hours after losing to USA's mixed doubles pair of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, the Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna vowed to bounce back on Sunday to ensure at least one medal for India.
But Mirza and Bopanna knew well the task of beating a robust Czech pair of Lucie Hradecká and Radek Stepanek in the bronze medal playoff would be tougher than the one they had against the US pair. The reason was simple – the Czech duo has been regularly playing doubles and Stepanek, in particular, has a great record in doubles particularly during the time he was playing alongside Indian great Leander Paes.
In the end, Indians' worst fears proved right as they went down one-sided 1-6 5-7 to much superior opponents in just 71 minutes. The inability of Sania and Bopanna to come together and play a few tournaments prior to the Olympics has cost India a certain medal, like many other times in the past, as the two never looked like being in the game on Sunday. Stepanek started the proceedings by holding on to his serve on Sunday. Bopanna now needed to hold on to his serve for the simple fact that Mirza found it tough to hold on to hers the previous night. But he faltered right in the beginning as Stepanek came up with some stunning net interceptions.
There was no looking back for the Czech pair after that as the Indians were broken repeatedly till Bopanna managed to hold once and open the account at 1-5. It was only in the second set that Mirza played some good rallies to break Hradecká's serve to take a 3-1 lead. But the celebrations in the Indian camp were short-lived as Stepanek helped his team bounce back right in the next to level the score line.
Mirza was fortunate to have held on to her weak serve once again as the two opponents committed some unforced errors. But she was not lucky the next time at 5-6. It was only Hradecká-Stepanek who were left jumping and celebrating their bronze medal win. "This is a big heartbreak for us. I can't assess immediately after the game what has gone wrong for us in this match," was how a shattered Sania reacted after the loss.
From Bad to worse
Like every other time in last two decades, India had great hopes from tennis this time too. But even before the team selection, the internal fights erupted between two powerful camps of Indian tennis.
Being the only Olympic medallist, Paes was asking for his partner while Bopanna was asking for his right to choose his partner like the past when his seniors had the same privilege to do so. All India Tennis Federation went out of its way to support Paes's cause and forced Bopanna to partner him against his wishes.
At that time itself , India's chances of winning a medal in men's doubles were over. The Mirza-Bopanna pair was the last hope as another war or words broke out between the two camps after Paes landed late after playing World Team Tennis. And, by that time, it was sure that the internal feud had once again taken over the national priority.
Hope, the new generation of Indian tennis has not been learning anything out of all this!
shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net
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