Rohan Bopanna Opens Up On Paris Olympics 2024 Ambitions; In Search Of Doubles Partner

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"Just need to figure out who I'm going to be playing with!" said Indian tennis stalwart Rohan Bopanna while in search of an Indian partner for the men's doubles event in the Paris Olympics 2024, a title missing from his cabinet.

Moments after he became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title with his Australian Open 2024 men's doubles Major, the 43-year-old Bangalorean made it apparent that the Olympics are already on his mind but the doubles ranking of his probable partner will play a role.

Among the options, Yuki Bhambri, who made a first-round exit from the Australian Open, is the second-best Indian-ranked player at 61 in the current ATP men's doubles ranking. Rohan and Yuki paired for the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou last year but lost in the second round to lower-ranked Uzbekistan pair of Sergey Fomin and Khumoyun Sultanov.

Apart from him, N Sriram Balaji (79), Vijay Sundar Prashanth (83) and Anirudh Chandrasekar (87) are other Indians among the top 90 players. Without pointing out anyone, Rohan Bopanna asked the Indian players to better their ranking for him to take a call on his partner and plans to prepare for Paris.

"Currently the guys are ranked around 60-70, which is tough for them to get a 500 or 1000 (ATP events)," he said in a virtual press conference. "Hoping that they improve their rankings so we can get one or two events just before the Olympics. Having said that, just need to figure out who I'm going to be playing with."

Rohan further mentioned that the French Open scheduled between May 24 and June 9 won't provide any clarity for his Olympics quest even though both tournaments will take place in similar conditions.

"The French Open won't make any difference in terms of preparing for Olympics. Because I will be playing with Matt Ebden at the French Open and I won't be playing with an Indian partner. After that whoever I play with, I just need to try and hope we get at least one-two tournaments," he said.

Rohan Bopanna says mixed doubles won't happen

Rohan Bopanna clarified his stand on mixed doubles as well, saying it won't happen. The tennis veteran won a gold medal at the Asian Games with Rutuja Bhosale but the latter's inferior ranking troubles the pairing. Rutuja is currently ranked 235 in the WTA Doubles rankings while Prarthana Thombare is the highest-ranked Indian at 166. Ankita Raina is ranked 206 but she hasn't competed in mixed doubles yet.

The qualification pathway set by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) allows 15 direct entries in mixed doubles with the highest-ranked teams based on combined rankings.

"Mixed doubles will not happen because there is no girl ranked high enough to qualify. Only event currently guaranteed is men's doubles," Rohan Bopanna said.