CHENNAI: While there are a plethora of Indian doubles players — 22 inside the top 900 — only a very few get to taste success at the highest level. Consider this. Since the turn of the century, only three mens players, Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes, and Mahesh Bhupathi, have been India’s best.
While Paes and Bhupathi took it in turns, Bopanna, after he replaced Paes at the top of the leaderboard some six years ago, has not relinquished his status as the country’s best doubles exponent.
That changed on Monday as Divij Sharan became the fourth to be the top-ranked Indian athlete. Sharan, who was ranked outside the top 100 as late as July 2016, surpassed the 38-year-old thanks to a semifinal appearance at the Swiss Indoors event last week.
He is now World No 38, with Bopanna ranked a rung below. In fact, the 32-year-old Sharan, who partnered Bopanna to Asian Games gold in Palembang, has quietly compiled solid numbers throughout the year.
The 2018 World Tour records of Sharan (20-19), Paes (8-12) and Bopanna (15-17) — India’s top three — paints its own picture.
While he is yet to win on the Tour (his only title this year came at the Challenger level) in 2018, he has reached the semifinals eight times. That’s far and away the best performance by an Indian doubles player this year, far outstripping Bopanna’s three even if one of those came at the Monte Carlo Masters. Bopanna performed better in the Slams (a third round and two quarterfinals compared to just the one quarterfinal for Sharan) but the latter’s more consistent displays have given him an important landmark.
Sharan claims these consistent displays are behind his elevation to ‘a great milestone.'
“I am really excited to have achieved this, it’s a great milestone,” he told Express from Paris, where he is waiting to see if a spot will open up at the year’s final Masters.
“Every player tries their best to be the best in the country and I am extremely happy,” he said. While he was coy when asked to comment on his newfound consistency, he says the uptick is thanks to being in a ‘happy place’. “I have just been working hard... there is no one secret or anything like that. I think I have just been improving.”
There’s more than a grain of truth in his assessment. After figuring in the top tier on a consistent basis only in 2016, Sharan stuck to playing with regular partner Purav Raja.
A parting of ways last year may have left Sharan stranded but he has found a new lease of life playing with Artem Sitak. Even though the New Delhi lad has played with 13 different partners this year, he has found Sitak to be the most compatible.
Even if there is a tinge of regret that he failed to convert at least one of those eight semifinals (three of them have come with Sitak) appearances to something bigger, he is happy because ‘my graph has been positive.’
“I would have liked to have converted a few of those into wins but I can’t complain right now.” He is now focused on working his fitness up in the off-season — “it’s something that will help me become better” — before eyeing a spot in the top 30 in the new year.
swaroop@newindianexpress.com