A look at the Indian contenders at the Australian Open

The first grand slam of the year is here. And Indian contenders will look to beat the best of the sport to give people of India moment of great joy and pride.Like every year, Indians look favorites at the doubles edition. With Sania Mirza at the top her career, Leander Paes with his 25 years of experience, and Rohan Bopanna with a new partner in the form of 8-times grand slam champion Daniel Nestor, hopes of Australian open coming into hands of an indian are certainly high.Not just that, Yuki Bhambri will be the flag bearer of Indian contingent in the singles. This will be his grand slam main draw feature.We look in detail on Indian contenders competing in the Australian Open:

#1 Yuki Bhambri

The 22-year-old from New Delhi will feature in his first ever singles in any major championships at this Australian Open. Yuki Bhambri defeated his American counterpart in the final round of qualifier stage to qualify for the main draw of the Australian Open. He will face 6th seed Andy Murray in the first round on the opening day.

In 2009, at the age of 16, Yuki Bhambri became the 4th indian to win the junior grand slam championships after winning the Australian Open. On the professional tour, Bhambri largely featured in the challengers. In 2013, Bhambri won his first challenger in Australia and last year grabbed 2 more challenger titles.

The right handed Indian whose idol is Rafael Nadal appears in Davis Cup single rubber and has a 12-7 career singles record to his name.

#2 Sania Mirza

After her successful single’s career which came to end in 2013, Mirza turned out to be even better doubles player. Presently at her highest doubles rank of 5, Sania Mirza had a successful 2014 season.

She partnered with Horia Tecau of Romania in the mixed doubles of the Australian Open and reached the finals. In the US Open she partenerd with Bruno Soares to win her maiden US Open championships in the mixed doubles. The doubles pair of Sania and Black won the season ending WTA finale in Singapore. She also won gold in Incheon Asian Games in the mixed doubles category.

Considering her impressive record in 2014, Sania Mirza certainly goes into the Australian Open as one of the favorites in both doubles and mixed-doubles category.

#3 Leander Paes

The eternal representative of india at the grand slams, the 15-time grandslam champion continues to thrive at the age of 41 and continues to be considered as favorite to add major trophies in his remarkable career. However, last year didn’t get him much success but his performances were encouraging enough. This year, he won the doubles title at the Heineken Open with his doubles partner R. Klassen which will help Paes to positively look forward to the first grand slam of the year.

#4 Rohan Bopanna

Rohan Bopanna has been a constant presence in doubles for india at the grand slams. He has partnered in doubles with Aisam ul-Quereshi from Pakistan for most of his doubles career. Although the Indo-PakExpress, as the partnership is famously called, didn’t have much success in the grand slam events – their best performance came at the 2010 US Open where they reached the finals.

This year, the right-handed player from Bengaluru has partnered with the 8-times doubles champion Daniel Nestor. The partnership has already won a title this year. The Indo-Canadian pair won the ATP title at the Apia International in Sydney. With the experience of Daniel Nestor at his side, Bopanna will certainly look forward to his chances of winning his first slam at Melbourne.