On his way to Tokyo: Tennis star Bopanna on preparing for 2020 Olympics, physiotherapy & love for his daughter

Tennis can be a lonely sport. When players step on to the court, they are on their own. Andre Agassi once called the game the “closest experience to solitary confinement”. “Tennis is mostly mental,” says Rohan Bopanna, 39, at an event in Mumbai.

The veteran tennis player has his pomaded mane coiffed upwards. The down on his chin has a patch of grey. A gold chain glistens over a tight-fitting T-Shirt, accentuating the bulge of his biceps. Bopanna, who has been on court for the better part of two decades, has resumed training after a shoulder injury. “I am feeling much better,” he says.

When Bopanna first broke onto the scene, he was hailed as the next big thing. He had the ingredients to succeed — a booming serve that earned him the nickname ‘Bofors’, powerful groundstrokes and an albatross-like wingspan. But his game was pegged back by errors.


On the upside, in early 2011, just months after he and his Pakistani partner Aisam Qureshi made sports and diplomacy headlines by reaching the US Open doubles final, Bopanna was introduced to Supriya Annaiah, a friend of his cousin, at a restaurant in Bengaluru. She was a psychologist. The chance encounter resulted in a courtship that would last a year, followed by marriage in November 2012. Six months ago, the couple had a daughter, Tridha.

“The physical aspect of training is what is talked about most, but mental conditioning is also very important,” Bopanna says. After the wedding, he returned to the circuit, albeit with a familiar face in his box. “You are on tour for 10-11 months in a year, and it is not easy to remain focused all the time. My wife is a psychologist, so indirectly I get counselled, which is a very good thing,” he says.

Diet and stretches

In June 2017, Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski won the mixed doubles crown at the French Open, making him only the fourth Indian to win a Grand Slam title. However, he reiterates that marriage was not the sole factor that helped him turn a corner. He started working with a physio and a nutritionist.

“I think the key is diet — knowing what kind of food is right for your body,” Bopanna says. “You should not compare yourself to anybody else. Everybody has a different body, and the way they digest different kinds of food will vary. Over the years, I think nutritionists in India have enhanced the fitness of top athletes, including myself.

“My physio, Gaurang Shukla, has been travelling with me for a few years now. Getting the right amount of stretches after matches, and other fitness routines keep you in better shape,” says Bopanna, who radiates good health, barring the shoulder injury that ruled him out of the recent Davis Cup clash with Pakistan.

Game face

Bopanna has no plans to hang up his boots just yet. He is relishing the prospect of representing India at the Tokyo Olympics with his doubles partner Divij Sharan. The duo has not played together much and are finding invitations to ATP and Masters tournaments hard to come by, given their relative rankings — Bopanna is ranked 38, and Sharan, 46.

“We need to focus on individual rankings to make the cut for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” Bopanna says.

A total of 32 teams qualify for the doubles competition at the quadrennial event. Ten places are reserved for players in the top 10 of the doubles ranking, who, in turn, can partner with compatriots ranked in the top 300.

When not competing on the tennis tour, Bopanna divides his time between his tennis academy in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, as well as his other entrepreneurial ventures — an artisanal coffee brand and a chain of fitness centres. “I want my daughter to watch me play. She is six months old now, so I want to keep going for some time,” he says.