Exclusive: I'm playing my best tennis, says doubles world No 3 Bopanna

There was a time when Rohan Bopanna attracted the attention of the tennis world because of his partnership with Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. Of course, they won matches and tournaments too. But theirs was a partnership that went beyond the court – everyone in India and in Pakistan knew their story. They even wore outfits at Wimbledon that read ‘Stop War, Start Tennis.’ But then with an eye on the Olympics, the two dissolved their partnership. Bopanna partnered Mahesh Bhupathi, then slowly came to terms with another new partner and then started winning again. The Olympics controversy took the sheen off things a little but now the 33-year-old from Coorg is back at his best. In the latest ATP rankings, Bopanna climbed to a career-best world number three – ahead of veterans Mahesh Bhupathi (ranked 7) and Leander Paes (9). Firstpost caught up with the doubles star for a short interview. World number three. Did you ever think this was possible? No. I didn’t even think about something like this. When I began playing tennis in Coorg, I believed that someday I would play at a Grand Slam; I believed that someday I would play at Wimbledon or another Grand Slam. But to become World number three is actually quite unbelievable. I was a little emotional when it happened. This is the result of the hard work that my coach Scott Davidson and my trainer Yash Pandey. Now, I need to work even harder and win a Grand Slam. I’ve got close but there’s nothing as good as winning it. And when you talk about winning a Grand Slam in the Doubles category, you just have to talk about the Bryan brothers. They’ve dominated the competition. You even tweeted about it “I feel like No1 in the world though,cause the Bryans come frm planet World Class.” So how are you going to beat them? The fact that I have played them quite a few times and beaten them helps immensely. At Wimbledon, we (Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin) were playing well, we had a shot especially after we took the first set. But they weren’t going to give up that easily. In the fifth set, though, they got an early break and didn’t let go. Against a team like the Bryans, you have to stay with them, you can’t give them an inch. We did and they won. One of the things about your career so far has been the number of different partners you have had. But when you look at the great pairs (Woodies, Bryans and more) they have generally stuck together for a long time… [caption id=“attachment_976723” align=“aligncenter” width=“380”]  Bopanna rise to world number three has been remarkable. Reuters[/caption] The main part of doubles is communication and well, playing with the same player for a long time allows you to understand his/her game completely. It could be something as simple as instinctively knowing where he will try and finish his volley or how he will react to a certain shot. You may not think of it as something big but when you have split-seconds to decide, being able to unconsciously do things is a big advantage. If you look at the Bryan brothers when they are on the court, they don’t talk. But they know exactly what each of them will do in a given situation. And that is the result of playing together for a long time. It’s something I want to do with Edouard too. Your game was always about the serve – it even earned you the nickname Bofors. But it was never enough to win on the Tour. So what’s changed in your game? I have been on the tour for 10 years now and the experience helps. You figure out that the game is not just about power. There was a time when I was just happy to be playing a tournament. But nowadays, I go to every tournament believing I can win it. That self-belief has changed things a lot. The other thing we’ve done is work on my volleys a lot. The coach tells me that no matter how hard your partner serves, the ball will come back and that is when you have to be able to finish the points. So I have worked on the volleys a lot. You are already 33. Has success come a little too late? I am playing my best tennis – there is no doubt I am; I am 100 percent playing my best tennis. As for the age, I’ll only say better late than never. Do you sometimes get tempted to play in the singles like the Woodies too? You are there at every tournament and playing well, singles wouldn’t be that hard to do… Well, I would love to play singles but it’s not something I can do. I don’t have a singles ranking anymore and to play even the qualifiers I would need one. That would mean giving up doubles and going back to the grind of playing Futures and Challengers. That’s a tough road and not one I want to go down again. Is a next generation of Indian tennis stars emerging? I was lucky. When I was coming up, I had the likes of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes to help me. It was a blessing. Anytime I was unsure about something, I could turn to them and I would get good advice. They guided me well and I hope to be able to do the same to the next generation as well. Recently, Purav Raja and Divij Sharan won their first ATP Title in Bogota, Colombia and there is some good talent around. Somdev (Devvarman) and Yuki (Bhambri) have been around for a while but even the likes of Jeevan (Nedunchezhiyan) and (N.Sriram) Balaji have been doing well. I will try and give them all the help possible.