Rohan Bopanna: the man of the moment

One Indian tennis player is emerging as the new crowd favorite at Wimbledon. Not Mahesh Bhupathi, not Leander Paes, not Sania Mirza; its Rohan Bopanna who is wooing the spectators with his BOOM BOOM game! His 3rd round mixed doubles match was watched by a packed audience on Court 12 even as the commentators were keeping a track of his number of aces.

And why not, when only the previous day the 6’3” Bangalorean served 22 aces in the marathon match against 6th seeds, Daniel Nestor and Robert Lindstedt? Not surprisingly, Bopanna is the only Indian who is alive in both men’s and mixed doubles draws.

Grass is traditionally considered the strong point of big serving Indian players. However, no Indian has made the semis of men’s doubles here since Leander Paes in 2008. Thus, when Rohan entered Wimbledon with a new partner, Edouard-Roger Vasselin, not much was expected of the combo.

However, the last few days have changed it all. In Round 3, the Indo-French combo upset 3rd seeds and in-form pair of Bruno Soares/Alexander Peya and followed it up with a 5-setter win over Nestor/Lindstedt. Against the latter, Rohan and Vasselin were up 7-6 7-5 3-1 when they suddenly found themselves in the 5th set, having wasted a match point in the previous set.

Many would have succumbed to the pressure but Team Rohan handled it with ease, keeping their composure to finish off the rain-delayed match 7-6 7-5 6-7 6-7 6-2. They next face the Bryan brothers who are chasing the “Bryan golden slam”- a unique achievement of holding all the 4 slams at the same time along with the Olympic gold medal that they won last year.

Needless to say Rohan and Roger are faced with an uphill task. But if any team can stop the Bryans now, it has to be them. For the record, the Bryans have served 37 aces till now in the entire tournament. And the number for Rohan/Roger stands at 91! They have hammered 31 aces in the last match itself.

Of course, aces alone won’t work against the best pair of all times. But with wife Supriya by his side, Bopanna seems to have found the renewed inspiration that took him to the US Open final in 2010 with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. And not to forget, the guy has a chance to lift his 1st slam in mixed doubles as well! In the quarter-final, Bopanna/Zhenq will take on Vera Dushevina/Jean-Julian Rojer.

All the best Rohan!