Indians Primed For Doubles Challenge

As Wimbeldon gets ready to throw its gates open, a look at how India’s finest will fare at the fabled tennis courts.

Over the years, Wimbledon has endeared itself to Indian audiences. Alas, with a singles player failing to make it past the qualifying rounds, yet again Indian fans will be counting on doubles glory from a cast of familiar figures over the next two weeks.

Leander Paes

In recent months, Paes has endured a string of underwhelming results. After a quiet clay court season that culminated in a fourth round exit at the French Open, the title drought has continued on grass. Paes and Canadian partner Daniel Nestor lost in the quarters at the Topshelf Open in Netherlands and the semis at Queen’s club.

Between them Paes and Nestor, the 11th seeds this year, have won three men’s doubles crowns at Wimbledon. Nestor with his strong leftie serve and Paes with his poaching skills at the net form an ideal combination. Both are 42, making them among the older teams in the draw. They face a tricky first round against the Serbian duo of Dusan Lajovic and Viktor Troicki.

Rohan Bopanna

The 35-year from Bangalore has been in some eye catching recent form. After winning the title in Stuttgart with Romanian partner Florin Mergea, the partnership reached the final at Halle in Germany before going down.

Since coming together in April, Bopanna and Mergea have won two titles and reached two other finals. Interestingly, Bopanna played with Paes’ current partner Nestor at the start of the year before the Canadian called the partnership off.

Bopanna, who is still searching for his first Grand Slam title, hasn’t gone further than the semis at Wimbledon in 2013. Seeded ninth, the pair starts against the American-Czech team of Tim Smyczek and Jiri Vesely.

Sania Mirza

After rising to the top of the rankings, Mirza aims to tick off another milestone by winning her first women’s doubles slam. Since winning three consecutive titles earlier in the year, Mirza and Swiss legend Martina Hingis have experienced a slight downturn in fortunes.

After being ousted in the quarters at Roland Garros, the pair was beaten in their first match on grass at Birmingham and then in the semis at Eastbourne. Hingis has won the doubles title twice at Wimbledon- in 1996 and 1998- while Mirza’s best performance came in 2011 when she reached the semis. They start against Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas and China’s Saisai Zheng.

Also Watch Out For

Mahesh Bhupathi, who has lost four of his five matches this year as he winds down a decorated career, has teamed up with Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic for his last Wimbledon hurrah. Also in the draw is the virtually unknown Purav Raja, having battled through the qualifying stages with French partner Fabrice Martin.

The mixed doubles draw, where the Indians will also be in strong contention, will be known later in the week.