CHENNAI: When you scroll through Rohan Bopanna’s ‘2018 player activity’ on the ATP website, one thing begs for attention. The number of close matches Edouard Roger-Vasselin and he have been involved in 2018. Out of the 20 matches they have played, 10 have gone to a super-break and a further six have had at least one tie-break. It’s something Bopanna, who will play his 150th doubles match at the ATP 1000 level this week in Madrid, is very quick to reference.
“We (Roger-Vasselin and he) had a good start (to the season), reaching the semis at Sydney,” Bopanna tells Express. “ At the Australia Open, we lost in the third set to the eventual champions (Mate Pavic and Oliver Marach). We had close losses in the next few tournaments we took part in.”Luck — an important ingredient if the super tie-breaks are to go your way — seemingly deserted the pair as they lost in the third sets in three of their next four meets. Things did not go their way at Indian Wells, Dubai and Rotterdam.
But even when things weren’t falling their way, they looked to address the issue. They didn’t want to bail on the partnership, something which most pairs do. “The main factor was we kept believing and practising as a team and I think that helps. We did not doubt ourselves as a team. We knew that we hadn’t played bad tennis. I know sometimes you tend to look at the results and there is a tendency to want to change (partners). But here we felt that we were playing good enough tennis to put ourselves in winning positions.”
Like he says, Bopanna’s results haven’t been the greatest so far. In fact, this is only the second time in the last 10 years that the 38-year-old has failed to reach the final of an ATP event before the beginning of May. That is why their semifinal run at the Monte Carlo Masters last month was so important. It was vindication for the hours of practice they had done together. “That (the results) did change (at Monaco), the World No 23 says. “We won some tie-breaks at Monaco and got some luck going our way. We are progressing now as a team and getting better. Overall, it’s been an up and down season if I am being honest.”
Bopanna, who won his first Slam at Roland Garros in 2017 (mixed doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski), isn’t worrying about the Paris clay yet. “Right now, my focus is on Madrid. It really goes week-by-week. There is no point in focusing on Roland Garros right now when you have a few more events to go before it.” He has a fair point. After Madrid, the tennis caravan goes to Rome. The ranking points that these two tournaments offer are opportunities to make some ground up on the top 20. If the Indian, in the company of his French partner can take that, it will set them up for a good second half of the season.
swaroop@newindianexpress.com