Olympic doubles entry: Bopanna keeping his fingers crossed

Rohan Bopanna is back home after Wimbledon to be with his family before he gets a possible call for the Olympics in Tokyo.

The suspense about the Olympic doubles entry for the Asian Games gold medallists Bopanna and Divij Sharan continues, and there is no clarity even about where they figure in the waiting list.

Change

“Doubles entry was supposed to be purely on the basis of singles or doubles rank. But there has been some change.

“The two players from Portugal Joao Sousa and Pedro Sousa got singles wild cards. And they also got doubles entry despite their best combined rank being over 200,” said Bopanna.

Daily visits

Bopanna, the former World No. 3 said that he visited the ATP office during Wimbledon every day to get some clarity about the Olympic entries, but nobody had any list that would make the picture clear.

He also pointed at the second Spanish team of Pablo Andujar and Roberto Carballes Baena whose best combined rank was around 170. Bopanna (38) and Divij had a combined rank of 113 on the entry cut-off date of June 14.

“Not only us, some good teams have also not got their entry yet. Matwe Middelkoop and Robin Haase, with a combined rank of 73, could not get in,” Bopanna said.

“I have been playing every week from the third week of April and decided to take a week off. If we get entry for the Olympics, I will go to Tokyo from here. Otherwise, after a two-week break, I will be playing in the US circuit’’, said Bopanna.

He was happy with the way he had played Wimbledon, especially the mixed doubles with Sania Mirza.

“I was happy with the way I served. Maybe, all the yoga that I am doing regularly is helping me. Sania played well, but lacked the match exposure,” said Bopanna.

The Indian pair had lost 9-11 in the third set against Jean-Julien Rojer and Andreja Klepac in the pre-quarterfinals, after not having dropped a set in the first two rounds.