Indian sports fans collectively drew their breath when Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes walked out on the greens at the Chandigarh Club on Saturday. This was the first time India’s men’s doubles team for the Olympics were playing together after the announcement of their pairing by the All India Tennis Association in June.
That announcement was not without controversy. Bopanna, as the highest ranked men’s doubles player, had then wanted Saketh Myneni as his partner, but his request was turned down and the All India Tennis Association decided to pair him up with the evergreen Paes.
There was much speculation over whether Paes and Bopanna would get along, and the kind of vibes they would share on court. But thankfully, they banished any worries with a clinical performance.
The Bopanna-Paes jugalbandi
The two senior statesmen of Indian tennis were in sparkling form in their doubles match against Hong Chung and Yunseong Chung of South Korea. All fears of any lingering discord between Paes and Bopanna melted as they gelled well with each other, celebrated at each other’s success, and ensured that they brought their best game to the court.
Bopanna pulled off some of his trademark big serves to pick up easy points, and Paes was his usual tricky self at the nets, making interceptions at crucial moments. Both of them seemed to be working well towards a plan and the final score reflected this: a dominant 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 straight sets win to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead over South Korea in the Davis Cup tie.
This is welcome news for Indian sport fans, who were wary that Indian tennis would be embroiled in another unpleasant dispute during an Olympic year, similar to 2012 when Bopanna and Paes’s long-time partner Mahesh Bhupathi refused to play with Paes at the mega event. But while Bopanna and Paes’s camaraderie on the court boded well, they won't have forgotten that they will be facing far tougher opponents in Rio.
Opposition at a disadvantage
Everything favoured India in their Group I Asia/Oceania second round encounter against South Korea. They had cleverly chosen the grass courts in Chandigarh, putting their Korean opponents at a severe disadvantage since none of their players had played on grass on the pro circuit before. The conditions were humid, a situation they expected the South Korean players to struggle with – which the visitors did.
South Korea had also sent a very inexperienced team. There was a huge gulf in class between the duo of Bopanna (ranked 14th in the world in doubles) and Paes (ranked 59th in the world) and their Korean opponents, Seong-chan Hong, ranked 1702 in doubles and Hong Chang, currently unranked in doubles. The very fact that they managed to take the sets to 3-6, 4-6, and 4-6 is actually quite creditable.
Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan also won their singles contests in the tie on Friday. However, they did not win as comfortably, with both matches being long-drawn-out. Myneni, World No. 150 in singles, faced off against Yong-Kyu Lim, ranked almost 500 places below him at 626. Both players suffered from the heat and Myneni even took a timeout during the fourth set. To his credit, he fought back and showed tremendous grit to outlast Lim, who conceded with the score at 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 5-2.
It was a similar story in World No 217 Ramkumar Ramanathan’s debut in the Davis Cup against Seong Chan Hong, ranked 427 on the singles circuit. The players traded points with Ramanathan marginally in front before the match ended on a decidedly anti-climatic note, as Hong withdraw in the fourth set after suffering a thigh injury.
The road ahead
India is not playing in the world group stage at the moment, where the teams have a shot at lifting the trophy. Having won its semi-final tie against South Korea in Group I, Asia/Oceania, India advances to the final of its group, where it will play either China or Uzbekistan.
More important, with this victory, India has qualified for the World Group Play-offs for 2017. Here, the bottom eight teams from the the World Group in 2016 and the top two teams from each of the four groups in Group I – a total of 16 teams – will compete for eight slots. That will involve playing a single tie against one of the other 15. For 2016, India lost at the same stage to the Czech Republic.
