By Vatsal Tolasaria – 12th October, 2019
“It feels great to reach this milestone. It’s something that would stay with me for the rest of my life,” says an elated Divij Sharan, just after landing in Stockholm to take part in an ATP 250 event starting Monday.
With two ATP 250 titles and an ATP Challenger title to boot, southpaw Divij Sharan is having one of the most solid seasons of his career on tour. And as a reward for his consistency, at rank 42, he is now Asia’s No.1 ranked doubles player on the ATP Rankings, overtaking Japan’s Ben McLachlan.
In an exclusive chat with Indian Tennis Daily, he talks about his feelings after achieving this feat, missing the Shanghai Masters draw, playing with Rohan Bopanna in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and much more –
On missing the cut at the ATP Shanghai Masters –
I missed the cut in Shanghai last week by a few spots. I won’t move up in the rankings even if I win a Challenger event, so I have to take such chances and be there at the bigger events incase a few teams pull out and I get to play for the big points.
Ideally, I’d like to move up in the rankings by another 10-15 spots so I can get an entry into most of the 500 and 1000s.
On the increasing competitiveness of the ATP Doubles Tour –
The doubles draws have certainly become more competitive as more and more singles players are opting to play doubles. I believe there was a record participation of singles players in the doubles draw last week in Shanghai.
On partnering with Rohan Bopanna –
Rohan(Bopanna) and I will try to play some events together in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics next year. In fact, we are going to play in Stockholm together next week.
On his plans after Stockholm –
I will try to play in Basel / Vienna and Paris in the next couple of weeks after Stockholm. Will have to wait and see how the entry list turns out.
I am going to try and enter with someone else, as Rohan(Bopanna) might be playing with Denis Shapovalov in those weeks.
