CHENNAI: When the French Open begins in Paris on Sunday, Indian presence will be absent in the singles category. At first glance, this isn’t much of a surprise because the Indian players generally don’t do well in singles play in the big events. However, on closer inspection, when the action starts on the red clay, one long running streak will be broken: Indian singles players appearing in the main draw of Slams.
In all, there has at least been one Indian player in the last 10 Slams, dating back to the 2018 Australian Open when Yuki Bhambri qualified. Since then, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sumit Nagal had kept the streak alive. That ended this week when the four Indians in the qualifying draw — Nagal, Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathannd Ankita Raina — mustered only two wins between them.