Indian tennis is healthy. There are Indian players competing at all levels – from the $15,000 tournaments on the professional circuit, to the ATP tournaments to the prestigious Masters events all the way up to the Grand Slam tournaments. Week in and week out there are Indians competing in the business end of competitions across the world, fighting against the best in the business.
There are nearly a dozen Indian players in the top-200 of world doubles rankings and five of them are in the top-100. Behind Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri and Sriram Balaji are 24-year-old Rithvik Bollipalli (76) and the 26-year-old Anirudh Chandrasekar (99), who have a bright prospect of making a mark at the Slam level.
There is understandable anguish among tennis fans that India has only three players in the top-500 of singles. But doubles stars feel it is unfair to pit singles against doubles, and that they should complement each other.
“Whether singles or doubles, all of us need the tournaments at home to build the foundation in our professional career,” said Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, World No. 110 in doubles. “Yes, the leading doubles players compete all over the world. But even for singles, we do have players like Manas Dhamne, Aryan Shah, Karan Singh and Manish Sureshkumar to gain from the exposure. We all need more tournaments at all possible levels,” Jeevan added.
Trendsetter
When Mahesh Bhupathi won the French Open mixed doubles title with Rika Hiraki of Japan in 1997, the first Grand Slam title for India, it was hailed as the big breakthrough. Leander Paes and Bhupathi, and later Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, won dozens of doubles titles between them on the biggest stages at Wimbledon, Melbourne, Paris and New York, making everyone proud.
Bopanna and Sania were a set away from bagging an Olympic medal in Rio in 2016. It was Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale who won the mixed doubles gold in the last Asian Games in Hangzhou.
“There is no doubt that we need to strengthen our singles pipeline, but the repeated framing of doubles success as lesser or secondary is not only misleading, it is deeply disrespectful to the athletes who have carried India’s name on the global tennis stage,” said Bopanna, who won the admiration of the tennis fraternity across the globe last year by becoming the doubles World No. 1 at 44.
“Let us be clear. Doubles is not a fallback. It is not a retirement plan. It is a different, highly tactical discipline that requires an equal amount of fitness, travel, training and mental resilience. India has had nine players in the top-150 in the world in doubles, and this is not a fluke. It reflects sustained hard work and excellence,” Bopanna added.
Bopanna stressed that the bigger question was not about more Indians succeeding in doubles, but why India had not built a system yet that allowed singles players to thrive.
“You need funding beyond the junior level and transition support for 18 to 25-year-olds. You need structured competition calendars within India, professional coaching, sports science and long-term planning,” he said.
Yuki Bhambri, who was once ranked as high as No. 83 in singles before switching to doubles because of injuries, credited the Doubles Dream of India project for the improvement in the fortunes of doubles players.
“The current number of Indian players in the top-100 and 150 has not been the norm,” he said. “It is a more recent phenomenon. It is in no small part due to the Doubles Dream project that has been providing us access to coaches, trainers and other resources.
Across the aisle: Both singles and doubles tennis need to treated equally. File Photo: R. Ragu
“This access was previously not available. The recent increase in the number of players performing and the improvement in results is driven by support and hard work. It is not an indication of doubles being easy or unimportant,” added Bhambri, who is now India’s doubles No. 2 behind Bopanna.
Bhambri, in fact, had displayed his doubles potential way back in 2014 when he made the third round of the Australian Open with Michael Venus of New Zealand. He was not swayed then to switch, for he knew his singles potential well.
“There is no doubt that singles tennis gets more eyeballs and money. No one is denying that,” Bhambri stated. “I don’t fault anyone for having personal preference or wanting to see more names in pro singles. But do we really have the infrastructure to support players, in line with such expectations?
“The majority of my career has been in singles. I have switched to doubles relatively recently. I can assure you that the players in doubles are putting in the same hard work. It is a different skillset that is needed for doubles to perform consistently. It is not just “singles lite”.
“We need to celebrate the wins when we are getting them, and support the players when we have them. We can safely say that Paes, Bhupathi, Sania and Bopanna have made the country extremely proud,” Bhambri added.
Sriram Balaji, who at 35 has risen to No. 68 in the doubles rankings and played the Paris Olympics alongside Bopanna, said that his work ethic has remained the same, whether it was singles or doubles.
“My dedication and work ethic have remained consistent throughout my career. The only difference now is that with age, my training methods have evolved. But the time and effort I invest remain unchanged,” said Balaji.
“We did have a period when we had about a dozen players in the top-500 of singles. There was no support from the system then. Now we have only three in the top-500 and the lack of support has remained the same! We need a structured system led by well-educated coaches who can guide not only the players but also the parents,” said Balaji.
Long ago, in a discussion about balancing his singles and doubles careers, when he was extremely good in both, Bhupathi made a point by saying: “going for a Challenger for singles instead of competing in a big event in doubles is like taking a pay-cut”.
Professional players do play for monetary gain, but Jeevan pointed out that “everyone starts to play the game not for the money, but because of passion”.
“A singles player ranked 300 in the world often struggles to break even with travel, coaching, equipment and physio costs,” Bopanna said. “In contrast, a doubles player ranked in the top-75 can build a sustainable career while still representing the country at the highest levels.”
It may be noted that the four big stars – Paes, Bhupathi, Sania and Bopanna have together won about $30 million in prize money. In contrast, the singles-only specialists Somdev Devvarman and Prajnesh Gunneswaran won about $2.5 million between them. Sumit Nagal has won about $1.5 million in prize money so far.
While Sasikumar Mukund has won $246,264 for his toil over the years around the world, both Balaji and Jeevan have won about a million dollars between them. Bhambri has won about $1.7 million so far and Ramkumar Ramanathan about $1.3 million. In the upper echelons of the game, Devvarman had a 62-81 win-loss record. Prajnesh was 11-28 and Nagal has a 15-38 record so far.
Sky high
Compare that with the 528-395 win-loss record for Bopanna in doubles. Paes was 770-457, Bhupathi 687-364 and Sania 536-248 on the Tour. They were on court for long, competing hard at the highest levels for higher rewards.
“When you pick up a tennis racquet, the motivation is always to compete at the highest level,” observed Jeevan. “While passion is the spark that gets you started and keeps you glued to the game, it is the urge to compete in the Grand Slams that makes you train hard, and drives you through all the struggles.
“Within the constraints of our system, we have found a pathway to do that in doubles. I want to compete in Wimbledon and the Grand Slams. No point in burning all the resources and playing in just about the entry-level events all your life just because you want to prove your singles prowess,” Jeevan added.
“Doubles has given me the opportunity to redefine my career and not let an injury bring it to a halt,” said Bhambri. “I am extremely grateful for the support of KPIT, Roundglass and the mentorship of Rohan.
“We are all hoping for increased support and better results in both singles and doubles. Let us hope that we all level up, and put in the hard work towards that goal. Consistent results require infrastructure, support and hard work in any format,” Bhambri added.
“It is time we stop pitting singles and doubles against each other,” said Bopanna. “Both are valid, elite disciplines. And both can and should coexist in a strong tennis ecosystem. Let us lift the conversation. Let us build solutions. And let us stop undermining the very athletes who are bringing India results,” said Bopanna, as he signed off.
Published – May 06, 2025 02:11 pm IST