Come this 5th of August, Rio de Janerio will become the first South American nation to host the Summer Olympics which traces its beginning to 1896. Held alternatively after every four years, the 2016 Olympics sees the entry of two new nations, Kosovo and South Sudan, creating a record number of participating countries and around 10,500 athletes taking part in this multi-sport extravaganza.
The tennis events will be taking place at the Olympic Tennis Centre, from 6th to 14th August, 2016. The chosen surface for this year’s Olympics is a hard court and an expected participation of 172 players is awaited. There will be five events- singles and doubles for both male and female and also, the mixed doubles.India has entered the names of four players who are due to participate in the Summer games at Rio. Sania Mirza heads the contingent, ranked Number 1 along with her female doubles partner, Prarthana Thombare. On the male doubles front, Rohan Bopanna, ranked 10 in the world and six-time pro Olympian Leander Paes have teamed up. India will be participating in 3 of the 5 tennis events, namely the Women’s Doubles, the Men’s Doubles as well as the Mixed Doubles, where Bopanna and Sania will be pairing up, again.Let’s now analyse the chances of how brightly the Indian tennis camp shines and possesses hopes of bringing home a medal.
1. Sania Mirza
In a recent interview in Mumbai, Sania confessed that she has always wanted to play and represent her country at the Olympics and her pride surges at the very thought of it. When asked to predict her chances of winning a medal at Rio, Mirza opted a humble and diplomatic way out of the question by saying, “You try and play every tournament, play every match at merit, give your best and hopefully come back with a medal. If you don't (win a medal) then you try again. You cannot sit and predict what is going to happen.” But it would be thoroughly unfair to overlook the threat she imposes on the doubles circuit, being the world’s number 1 for a while now.
She has made a huge comeback and along with Swiss doubles partner, Martina Hingis, she has been quite the storm to dread on court. Ignoring the third round exit at Wimbledon, the duo of Hingis and Mirza have fared excellently at the recent Slams and other places too. They have been on a winning roll.
Mirza’s form is much better than before and she has developed a fairly enviable finesse in the game or is giving it her all in trying to achieve so. Prarthana, her doubles partner feels that she is quite undaunted to face big shots on the other side of the net provided she has Sania by her side.
If India stands a chance at winning a medal, Women’s Doubles is where most would put their money, because of Sania’s glaring form and inspiring success and comeback history.
2. Leander Paes
India had always trod on unsuccessful paths as far as Olympic tennis.
The one man who lit up the tennis world by carrying home a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics of 1996 was Leander Paes. Paes is a marvel to look at. At 43 years of age, this fellow has been in a tremendous form, winning four of the six Grand Slam titles finals he qualified for, since 2015.
Having won 8 doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, Paes can never be written off. The 43-year-old will be playing his 7th straight Olympic this year. Him and Bopanna are not on the finest terms of friendship and it will indeed be very interesting to see how their chemistry pans out on court.
Myneni was eventually overruled as an option by the AITA and Paes, a one of a kind experienced athlete has bombarded on the Olympic scene for the 7th time. Paes, on the other hand, maintains that he and Bopanna are India's best chance of an Olympic medal.
He assured fans, saying, "We are playing at a very high level. My career speaks for itself and Rohan has also been doing well in last 18 months. We both are ready and without a shadow of doubt, me and Rohan are the best team.”
3. Rohan Bopanna
Bopanna will play the mixed doubles with Sania Mirza, who said "It's been very good. Me and Rohan have known each other for a very long time, we have played a lot together. So we are looking forward to playing together in the Olympics." Their chemistry is one to reckon with on court, definitely. Bopanna is the highest ranked player at the India Men’s Doubles circuit, ranked Number 10.
He had requested the AITA to let him choose Saketh Myneni as his doubles partner, a request which was turned down.
Bopanna wrote in his letter to the AITA how he was “..proud to have earned a direct acceptance to men's doubles. I have earned the right to exercise my judgement on my partner for Rio Olympics. Look forward to AITA supporting me in the lead up to the Rio Games." A
Although Bopanna does not have a Grand Slam title to his name, his form has been strong, and it would be really riveting to see how he fares in the doubles as well as the mixed doubles events he is scheduled to participate in.
4. Prarthana Thombare
Playing her first ever Olympics, will be 22-year old Prarthana Thombare.
A dominant figure in the ITF circuit, she has been clubbed with Sania Mirza for the Women’s Doubles event.
This isn’t the first time they’ll be partnering together as both Sania and Thombare have tasted Bronze success at the Asian Games in 2014. Not much can be said about how much this young woman can influence the winning radar of Women’s Doubles but she is definitely a talent to watch out for.
She is the second highest ranked Indian player in the Women’s Doubles circuit and confesses that she has one wish at the Olympics- “I hope to meet Usain Bolt.”
Mirza has hand-picked her as her partner for the Summer Olympics and she has big shoes to fill, being Mirza’s doubles partner is not a joke anymore as she is now accustomed to playing with the Swiss-great,Hingis. She has trained hard for the games and it would be really intriguing to watch this young talent unfurl herself at the big stage.
