India’s marquee doubles exponent Rohan Bopanna is the latest tennis player to launch his academy, following in the footsteps of his compatriots, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.
The 35-year-old announced on Friday about his new venture which is going to open in Bengaluru in March.
The World No. 8 will be at the Rohan Bopanna Tennis Academy (RBTA) himself between March 4 and 6, 2016 at the time of the inauguration and will participate in an interactive session with kids to kick off the proceedings.
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In an interview to The Times of India, the Indian Davis Cupper said the academy intends to focus on fitness and Bopanna hopes to conduct the academy his way.
Primary focus on fitness: Bopanna
“I want to do this my way. I want the primary focus to be on fitness because that’s the most important factor in our sport today, also if the child then doesn’t want to play tennis, he/she can play another sport because they’ll already have the necessary early training,” he said.
Bopanna has already teamed up with former South African professional and now a renowned coach, Piet Norval. Fitness trainer Yash Pandey will also be actively involved in Rohan’s new venture.
The South African has been appointed the RBTA Mentor Coach and he will be visiting the academy every month. Bopanna himself will be present at RBTA once every two months and will impart his valuable knowledge to the kids and also talk to their parents.
“Piet has done a fantastic job with kids in South African. He will visit the facility once every month for a week. I want to focus on juniors to begin with and then see if I want to expand.
“Right now it’s all about a wholesome exposure to children who want to play the sport. I’m only having clay courts now because it’s easier on the body, more so when kids are learning the sport,” the Indian star told TOI.
The RBTA will offer two levels of coaching to children aged between 4 and 14 years. The curriculum has been designed by Bopanna along with Norval.
The Indian last played at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this week where he and his Romanian partner, Florin Mergea were ousted in the first round by the veteran duo of Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 4-10.
