Imagine having the 2023 that Rohan Bopanna did. World Number 3. Asian Games Gold Medallist. US Open Men’s Doubles Finalist. Australian Open Mixed Doubles Finalist. Multiple synonyms of the “word phenomenal” can be used to describe the year he had. After having that kind of year, you could just be enjoying a well earned vacation, but Bopanna chose to put his time to more productive use. Rohan Bopanna was leading the Doubles Dream of India camp in Bangalore, helping players ranked between 50 and 300 achieve a better version of themselves.
Indian Tennis Daily caught up with Rohan Bopanna on the sidelines of the Doubles Dream of India in Bangalore. (Interview conducted in December 2023)
Q. So first things first, can you talk about this year (2023) for you? It has been phenomenal. Do you count it as being your best year professionally?
RB – Yeah, I think the year has been really good. The year has been really kind. It has been a consistent year. You know, unlike other years, I would say to have that consistency, have one partner throughout the year, it had been a while since I had that. The entire year apart from representing India during Davis Cup and Asian Games, I played only with Matthew Ebden. I think that partnership, you know, grew a lot, and we learned a lot from each other. Doing well, in the Grand Slams. Masters, I think was the key when we decided to pair together and of course, to qualify for the Year End Final finally. So without a doubt the best year for me.
Q What do you think worked well for you and Mathew? Was it complementing each other’s styles or was it something else?
RB – I think our mental strength, you know. I think an important key factor in that partnership is having both of us calm on the court and everything. That has made a tremendous amount of difference; not really getting worried with situations on the court, whether it’s being match point down, set point down or serving for the match. We both are calm and that has helped.
Q. What motivates you at this age to go out there and perform at the level you are performing? And how do you ensure that your body’s ready for it?
RB – The first and foremost thing, I’m still happy competing, and, you know, traveling the world. I mean, this is what I’ve enjoyed for such a long period of time, and I really feel why when I’m at the top, there is really no need to stop. I mean, especially when very few times you start off a career and continue that for 20 plus years. There are so many things in the journey, hurdles, which happened, you end up changing jobs or changing your career. So, you know, I picked up tennis, doing all those sacrifices for years and years, to be at the top and when I am here,I feel there’s no really no reason to stop.
To maintain that the recovery part is extremely, extremely important, I think. I made sure this year that I focused a lot on my recovery, more than practice two hours or practice more than three hours. I am more focused on getting my recovery fully ready. In terms of recovery I mean, you know, religiously, making sure I focus on my cooling down ice baths, my massages, my mobility before matches and everything. I try and have one session of practice, not two sessions of practice. I cut down that time also just to really recover for the following day. I mean, I remember when we played Rotterdam and Doha back to back, I played eight matches in nine days. And I don’t think that would have been possible if there was a physio not there traveling. So that is an important aspect that has also made a big difference. Hiring a physio from Belgium, Rebecca [O’Shea] , when she came on the first time earlier this year, I told her specifically how my body is feeling, that the cartilages in my knee had worn out, but I want to really strengthen that and focus on that. I think she understood that. She also got to know how I felt on the court, when good recovery happened and when good sleep happened. And yeah, so I think that is something which was very, very important for me.
Q. This year has been phenomenal not just for you, but also for Indian Men’s Doubles. Seven players in the top 100. What do you think has worked for Indian Men’s doubles tennis specifically?
RB – The key factor is just having a little better structure in place. You know, starting this Doubles Dream of India, and trying to find coaches and physios to travel with these guys, just enhance where they already are, I think it’s definitely helped them. And the other key part is that they are pushing each other, you know, they all want to, you know, reach the top, they are constantly pushing one another, winning Challengers, getting to the semis of tournaments and winning tournaments. That has created this nice group. I think a lot of them are now starting to believe that they also can get there. And they have seen their contemporaries get to that ranking, they also believe that they can because they’ve been playing with them for such a long time. So that as I think has built a good amount of players really fighting for their spot and getting to the top.
Q. How did the idea for “Doubles Dream of India” come up for you? How do you see it going forward?
RB – Mr. Kishor Patil, has been helping the Challenger in Pune doing it for good seven, eight years, and he was sponsoring the tournament. I happened to meet him later when I went to the ATP event and he actually wanted to really help some Indian players. And so I sat down with Mr. Patil and Abhishek [Tamhane] in a room and said, “How can we do something differently?”. I said that what we could do is currently, whoever are already trying to make it to the top, let’s help them. We are always focused on why we have no singles players or something else. I said, first, we need to focus on the players who we have, in order to bring that ecosystem in slowly, instead of worrying about what you don’t have. So I think that is somewhere, our visions really came together, and we said, okay, let’s try and help whoever is there in terms of doing well in doubles, but you know, need a little more help. So we thought, you know, a good enhanced help would be when we take off the burden from them, not worrying about trying to hire a physio, or trying to hire a coach, or you said, let’s work on that, to provide them with the best of coaches, physios, and, really enhance where what they’re already doing, and you know, get their recovery, give them proper feedback after matches, all this would really help and I think, was something we really focused on.
Even though yes, we officially announced it [Doubles Dream of India] a year ago, it’s been going on way past that with trial and error to see how everything goes. And I think it’s been really good. Last year, we had a great camp in Dubai for two weeks. This year, we have been here in Bangalore for a week, but it makes a difference. All over the world, I tell the guys that the guys can either have one or two players to train with, whereas here we have good 10-12 players. So it’s when you come together, it really makes a huge difference, and I think it, they do understand it now. I think what it took some time for the players to understand, because they’ve never had a program like this, where promises are made, and taken into action. They’ve come and I’ve also grown up, you know, being part of a system like that, where a lot of things are promised but never fulfilled. And I think here, that is the difference we made sure what we are providing is something we promised. Their trust also has changed in terms of understanding how the program can benefit and help them. This is where I think the idea came about, and today we see, if you look at all the guys who have come up there and their rankings from when they started the year to today, where they are, there’s a significant difference. And, you know, that is I think, straightaway, a huge bonus.
Q. Has there been anything different with the camp this year compared to last year?
RB – I think the commitment we wanted the players to really commit on what they need and what they would do differently. Some guys, they need only maybe the help of a physio, while some people need only a coach. So we even working with that because some of them have their respective coaches, or their respective physio. So we tried to get as much as help to all these guys. And not only that, this year we have tried to get even those players with 200 to 300 ranking. Then we want to bring in a few more experts who can really help them to grow their game in terms of getting some data analysis, stats and everything. So we’ve got a few people. And I think that is something which these guys can really benefit from as well.
Q. Speaking of data, do you think data is playing a bigger role now than it has ever in the past?
RB – Absolutely. I think especially when you can physically see everything, it does make a huge difference. I mean, then, you know, writing in a notebook, and then trying to alter it, or to just guess, from your memories don’t work as much anymore, compared to when you see it there with the data. I think it’s a huge enhancement.
Q. So I mean, maybe a slightly controversial question. But this is effectively a player led camp, of course with Mr. Patil. You see, that’s the way forward for Indian Tennis, where it’s more player and corporate led?
RB – The number one thing is just bringing a structure. It doesn’t matter who leads it. The idea is to create a structure and a journey which the players can look forward to and get to the top. That is what we don’t have, unfortunately. Players are coming up on their own. So this has in some way, you know, brought that kind of basic structure into the program, which is, you know, already showing good enough results, but I think it’s still a long way to go. But whether it is the federation, whether it is corporates, whether it is players themselves, they need to work together, otherwise it will not happen. Otherwise constantly players will say federation is not doing this, federation will say players are not available or doing the right things. This has been going on for years and years.
When we started this, we said, let’s start it ourselves, let’s see how it goes. and then moving on further, if there’s more help for these players, that’s great. I mean, there’s so many areas which we can improve where these players can make a lot of benefits. I think India will only benefit as a country at the end of the day. Cricket today is a world class sport because of how well the structure is from the junior level. Every sport needs that at the end of the day.
Q. How do you see Indian Tennis today as compared to how it was when you started off your career?
RB – I think the overall level of Indian tennis, in terms of level I mean,from the junior level to even the, AITA national level, the depth in players has gone down. The depth in the quality of the players, I think was there before. Today, we have those niche players who are playing. That I feel is because there are not so many tournaments in the country, which is, you know, not really helping their growth, so that is something also we need to significantly change, I feel, so that the depth in those players can come out.
Q. What are your aspirations for Indian tennis as a whole in 2024? And doubles specifically?
RB – Not only just doubles, if you take Sumit Nagal for example, he’s done phenomenal work coming back to where he is. So I think he’s someone who needs a good amount of support, good help, to enhance where he already is and to go forward. I mean, even the doubles today, they’re all either qualifying for a Grand Slam, or just outside the Grand Slam. So the idea is I want them to be comfortably in without even worrying to be in the Grand Slams. I want more Indians to be playing at bigger tournaments, not only the Grand Slams, but the 500s or 1000s, you know, so they, I think, have great potential to get there. I mean, you know, because it is just as they need to really have the discipline and belief, which, which I think, is there today, and I think they see it. In a way, I’m glad that I’m still competing at this highest level, because they have great access to ask me anything for moving forward or, you know, whatever it may be. Also, to understand how there is somebody who’s been there and still doing it, and still pushing everyone at the highest level. So I really feel these guys have the platform and access today to speak to somebody at the end of the day.
Q. What are your personal aspirations and your goals for 2024?
RB – It’s a great year to be playing. The main thing is, of course, on the circuit, to continue this partnership with Matthew Edben. And the other biggest thing is, it’s an Olympic year. So that is also a good year in the sense that there’s an opportunity for Indian tennis to have a team there. And if I remain in the top 10, whoever I play with, they’re going to be making their debut. So I think that is a fantastic opportunity. I mean, there’s a bunch of players I can pick from now, if I remain in the top 10. But I’m hoping that these guys qualify or get the ranking high enough, so that we’ll have maybe two teams, which will be ideal.
Q. Could you talk about the people behind the scenes? The other people involved with the camp, that is?
RB – Yeah, I mean, I think they play the biggest role. The coaches and the physios; Balachandran, who’s been traveling with these guys for a long time, last year Jeff Cooks, he was traveling with them, John Harrington, traveled with them. So a lot of these coaches who have gotten such a big experience from their end have been able to help these guys I think, and the players see it themselves. Apart from the coaches, we have the Peak Performance team, which is helping with the physiotherapy, we also have Abhimanyu from Delhi also who’s been helping them. So I think these guys you know, silently are doing fantastic work which has made a tremendous difference. And I think we are really thankful for what they are able to bring and really make a big difference. Clearly that is what we wanted to give them and today when we see that it has helped these guys, you know, recover better, feel better on the court, I think that is where, you know, we feel it’s gonna make a big change. And I think without the backend people supporting right from the top, having these coaches, physios, all part of the team, I don’t think the players would really be getting that benefit.