Rohan Bopanna is through to the 3rd round of the Men’s Doubles at Roland Garros with partner Matt Ebden and is all set to take on countryman Sriram Balaji next. However, he lost in the first round of the mixed doubles with partner Veronika Kudermetova to Vavassori and Samsonova.
After pulling double duty today, Bopanna caught up Vatsal Madhup Tolasaria ITD to share his thoughts:
Tolasaria – Thoughts on the men’s doubles match today. You were in a winning position, being a set and a break up. But they came back.
Bopanna – We played two guys who primarily love playing on clay. And conditions are really really slow. You need to really fight for every point. Lot of rallies happening, lot of (service) breaks happening because the conditions after the rain for the entire week is playing heavy. So there’s much more strategy involved.
Even though they play a lot of (ATP) Challengers, they love playing on this surface. They were hitting some heavy forehands, making it tough for us to cross. But we found a way. To be honest, we let them back in the first set being up 4-1. But after that, credit to them. They really played well. We played an extremely good game to break. After that, our experience took us through.
Tolasaria – How tough has it been to prepare with the rain delays? Your opponents also changed twice!
Bopanna – We can’t really control the rain delays unfortunately. Having said that, we hardly got any court time or practice time. That was surely difficult. Tuesday we warmed up because we were going to play. Wednesday we didn’t even do that because it was raining. The other days we couldn’t really practice because we were on the schedule but we were getting cancelled. We couldn’t really go out and have a long hit.
It’s going to be three weeks since we last played a match (in Rome). We didn’t expect it was going to take that long. We both got in Friday (last week) and expected to play Tuesday. No one really expected it to extend all the way to Sunday (laughs). So you are a little rusty, there’s no question about that.
Tolasaria – You entered the Mixed Doubles at the Australian Open earlier this year and then withdrew. With the rain playing havoc with the scheduling, was there a thought of withdrawing from the Mixed here as well?
Bopanna – The main reason I went on court today (for Mixed Doubles) was to get more court time. I was hardly getting any matches or seeing, feeling the ball. We are not even getting to play on these courts. So I said why not, which is what you need to be match sharp. That’s why I decided to enter the Mixed and see how it goes. But today in the Mixed, both Vava (Vavassori) and Liuda (Samsonova) played really well. They were serving well, returning well. We couldn’t really get the momentum. But just being on court and getting little more used to the pace of the ball is what was needed. So playing Mixed or not in a certain week totally depends on my body.
Tolasaria – Looking ahead, you play another Indian Sriram Balaji next. He considers you a mentor, as do other Indian doubles players. Thoughts on the match?
Bopanna – First of all, I am really happy that both Yuki (Bhambri) and Bala (Sriram Balaji) are getting to play more and more at a higher level. At the end of the day, there’s a great program (Doubles Dream of India) that’s supporting them. It shows in the results and they are improving. They are entering and winning bigger events.
It’s amazing. He (Balaji) made the opportunity to be here, despite being 7-8th alternates. But he said he will take a week and come here and take a chance. And sometimes you need to take that chance. And he made maximum use of that chance, not only making the draw but he’s now in the third round. They’re another alternate team. They’ll play loose and take their chances. I’ve been watching his matches through and through, I know the coaches and physios who have been working with him, so it will be a fun match.
And most importantly, it’s been a long time since I have played against another Indian in the Men’s Doubles (laughs). So it’s nice that we have two people representing India.
Tolasaria – And especially at the Grand Slam stage…
Bopanna – I don’t know the last time it even happened, probably 10 years ago. I am happy to be a part of both generations, sustaining for so many years, and not just watch but also play against these players (laughs).
Tolasaria – Until a couple of years back, it was mostly Indians supporting you in the stands. But since you’ve compiled several records of being the Oldest to win a Masters, win a Slam, become No.1, etc, I see a lot of non-Indian fans as well taking interest and coming to your matches and following you. How does it feel to get that sort of love?
Bopanna – It is extremely beautiful. It shows that this sport is so global. And so well understood across the world. A lot of these guys are older guys who come and appreciate what I have achieved because they themselves play and are inspired in some way that there’s somebody at age 44 being able to play at the highest level. So they feel they have a great chance in their journey to push and feel encouraged. It’s absolutely wonderful.
Not only for tennis watchers or lovers, non-Tennis people also have come up to me at airports after having read or seen this story and being inspired. They don’t follow Tennis or have anything to do with Tennis, so that’s been really encouraging. In some way, Indian Tennis has also got a fantastic boost amongst all this. It’s the right way forward, it doesn’t matter which time in your career it comes, as long as the sport is benefitting and you’re inspiring people.