The last two Olympic Games – London 2012 and Rio 2016 – saw turmoil in Indian tennis; for the same reason, four years apart. But despite being at the centre of things, Rohan Bopanna was a sideshow in the drama over India’s doubles pair. He wasn’t given the same consideration as the other two doubles players locking horns, because he did not have the credentials to match up to them.
Bopanna represented India in both those Olympics, and is India’s highest ranked male doubles player. But he still wasn’t spoken of in the same way as Leander Paes or Mahesh Bhupathi. But now, after winning his first Grand Slam trophy – the mixed doubles title at French Open – he has made it to an exclusive club of tennis players in India, 14 years after turning pro and seven years after reaching his first Slam final.
Bopanna and his Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, the seventh seeds, beat Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 in a tense final that saw them recover from a set down and save not one but two championship points. The Super Tie Break, which usually lasts for 10 points, was extended as both pairs held their nerves and traded blows. Till Groenefeld committed a double-fault while serving at 10-11. He has done it, climbed the summit every tennis player wants to reach, a Grand Slam trophy. Bopanna enveloped Dabrowski in a bear hug and punched the air in triumph. Later, he brought his entire family on court and posted the photographs with an emotional message: “Coorg to Paris...Dreams do come true, Don’t just dream about success, Work towards it.”
This was the first Slam trophy for his 25-year-old partner as well, with whom he has played at last year’s US Open and this year’s Australian Open together. En route the title, the seventh seeds beat second seeds compatriot Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig in the quarters and third seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the semis
“This was purely a personal goal. It was no one’s goal of how I did [and] what I did. It’s come at the right time,” the 37-year-old said after his win, only the fourth Indian to get his name on a Grand Slam trophy.
Bopanna’s insistence that his maiden Grand Slam title was about him – a personal goal, a personal triumph, is not surprising. He has often spoken about he wants to go one better than his 2010 US Open final appearance and win the trophy. “I am always looking to better that and that’s what I like to keep as my target. As a personal goal this is what I look into doing when I am playing a Grand Slam. It’s your hard work and your commitment to it and no one else’s so that is what I like to challenge myself,” Bopanna had told Scroll.in in before the French Open.
Winning his maiden Slam therefore is undoubtedly a mix of relief, pride, delight and satisfaction for the Indian. But in his case, the French Open title will be a lot more than the first Major trophy on his mantelpiece – it’s a tangible proof of achievement. In the broad view of professional sport, it is these Grand Slam trophies, the medals that counts the most when you quantify success. Bopanna has 16 men’s doubles titles – two of them won this season, including the prestigious Monte Carlo Masters. But it is this mixed doubles trophy that will stand out when people talk about great Indian tennis players.
Bopanna’s place in Indian tennis is very peculiar. Of the top Indian players produced in recent times – the Grand Slam winners club that Bopanna just joined – each has their own unique place. Leander Paes is the veteran who is still going strong. Mahesh Bhupathi is the celebrated mentor who is giving back to tennis is his own way. Sania Mirza is a former world No 1 and the undisputed best woman tennis player from India. Somewhere among there, the late blooming Bopanna is often considered second fiddle, even though he has been the highest ranked Indian male in doubles for a while, reaching the highest rank of No 3.
Yet, he was dropped from India’s Davis Cup tie against New Zealand in February this year. The All India Tennis Association committee had said the decision was made to accommodate a “third singles player” and because Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni had done well in the previous tie against Spain.
But there was much to be read between the lines – Paes was on the verge of a record number of doubles wins and was given the chance to get it. However Paes and his replacement partner Vishnu Vardhan lost the tie and Bopanna was picked for the next tie against Uzbekistan. Bopanna partnered N Sriram Balaji and the duo gave India an unassailable 3-0 lead and sealed their place in the Davis Cup World Group Play-offs.
But this was not the first instance of Bopanna getting the shorter end of the stick. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he partnered Paes at the AITA’s insistence and the pair was knocked out in the first round. Before and after that defeat, talks were rife with speculation about the cold war between them and how they did not train together in advance.
In both these cases, it was apparent Bopanna wasn’t inclined to play with Paes, but was made to. That’s how the pecking order in Indian tennis was.
Could the French Open title change things? That he is one of the best tennis players for India, has not been in much doubt as his consistent Davis Cup performances have shown. In fact, Bopanna and Sania were agonisingly close to an Olympics medal in Rio, finishing fourth – a triumph that would have elevated him to a different level. But he has often been lumped into “camps” by the media or not given the same consideration as other top doubles players by the AITA, despite his strong ATP results.
For fans, he is someone who has not won big medals at global events and might not draw the same audience as some of his fellow players. But a Grand Slam title should change that. On court, it will spur his game in both men’s and mixed doubles, and could lead to more titles with two more Slams coming up in the next two months. Off court, it will give him a stronger voice, a greater presence and the place he deserves at the high table of Indian tennis.
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