Their eyes trained at an elusive Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games, India's top two tennis players, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, strongly feel they could go on to become a "tough team to beat" on the Tour.
Their eyes trained at an elusive Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games, India's top two tennis players, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, strongly feel they could go on to become a "tough team to beat" on the Tour.
Bopanna and Sharan moved to the semifinals of the Tata Open Maharashtra after a nail-biting 6-7(4) 6-4 17-15 win over Leander Paes and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.
Bopanna, ranked 37, and Sharan (39) joined forces at the beginning of the year and have committed to play together on the Tour for the first time.
Bopanna said playing with a fellow Indian and that too a left-hander is something he has not done before and it has its advantages.
"I had had lot of partners but I am playing with a left-hander for the first time. Playing with somebody from India is always better. Even when I played with Mahesh in 2012, we had a great time, irrespective of results. We enjoyed the sport, so it's a bonus," said Bopanna.
Sharan, who had to change about 14 partners in the 2018 season, said playing with a strong server is a big advantage.
"I have never played with someone like Bopanna who has such a big serve. It makes my life easy. It's not easy being on court when he hits those powerful strokes. If we play well in next 2-3 months, I think we will be a tough team to beat," Sharan said.
The Delhi southpaw also said that having similar rankings also influenced their decision to team up.
"Since Asian Games, we have similar rankings. With others it was becoming difficult to enter into big tournaments like Masters. Tokyo is far but it's a good target to have, it will also depend on how we improve as a team." Paes, who ended up on the losing side, said hard work in the off-season gives him confidence that the 2019 would throw something special for him.
"I have got stronger and I have added a few clicks to my serve. I won't be surprised if something big comes up. This was one of the best matches I have played (with Miguel). We have taken a lot of experience out of it," he said.
Talking about the loss, despite having six match points, Paes said, "it hurts".
"On those points, the opponents always take me out." He has not been picked for Davis Cup grass court tie against Italy but Paes chose not to start a controversy.
"I have the Davis Cup record. All of you know what's going on. If I am called, I always put my best foot forward." At 8-8, Paes appeared to have hit a fault but since umpires did not give the call, it put Bopanna and Sharan down by a match point.
The big-hitting Coorgi said the experience of playing such tense matches over the years pulled them through.
"All four players on the court knew it was a fault. But you have to let it go. It was crucial at that time but we had to regroup. The umpire said since I was blocking his view, the lines man had to make a call." The doubles matches have not been put on centre court as yet and it has left fans disappointed as many as eight Indians feature in doubles draw. Only Centre Court matches are being telecast live.
Both Paes and Bopanna said they have to follow whatever the schedule is though they would have loved to play at the stadium court.
The singles matches have been given preference over doubles, keeping in mind the global audience, though according to the organisers, if they had planned better there was a possibility of having India-interest matches on the centre court.
Several fans across the country rued that they could not watch Arjun Kadhe and N Sriram Balaji in action and also missed Thursday's marquee match between Paes/Miguel and Bopanna/Sharan.
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 "Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan")
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