Road to Paris, Tennis: Who has qualified and how did they make it? Can India win a medal?

You need to go back to 1996, 28 years back, to find the last time an Indian tennis player had an Olympic medal around their neck. Leander Paes, who lost to Andre Agassi, came from a set down to beat Fernando Meligeni in the bronze medal match. It made him the first Asian to win a medal in tennis at the Olympics. He also became India’s first individual Olympic medal winner in 44 years and would end up being the country’s only medallist at Atlanta 1996.

“When you play for 1.4 billion people, when you go out to play the Davis Cup or the Olympics, it’s a different feeling altogether,” he told Olympics.com.

Paes has been one of the constants in India’s Davis Cup and Olympic history having represented the country seven times from 1992 to 2016. Not all, however, has been hunky dory.

In 2012, both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna refused to pair with Paes, who was forced to play with Vishnu Vardhan. Sania Mirza was then asked to team up with Paes in the mixed doubles and the top women’s player had hit out at the All India Tennis Association (AITA) for using her as bait to placate the legend.

Six years later, at the continental Asian Games, Paes decided to pull out just two days before the start, saying he was not given a specialist player to team with. AITA had nominated Bopanna and Divij Sharan as a team, leaving Paes with no option but to work with one of the singles players in the squad.

On the court, it has been a hit-and-miss journey. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Paes and Bhupathi, one of the in-form doubles teams at the time, reached the semi-finals. Then, 12 years later, Bopanna and Mirza came close to winning a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Who is going to Paris?

As things approach the 2024 edition, three Indians have qualified – Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji in men’s doubles and Sumit Nagal in the singles. It will be Bopanna’s third Summer Games, second for Nagal and maiden appearance for Balaji.

Bopanna, 44, by virtue of being inside the top 10 of the ATP rankings (standings for men’s tennis players) as of 10 June, had the luxury of picking his teammate. There were multiple options but it was reportedly narrowed down to Balaji and Yuki Bhambri – both of whom had a decent run on clay – which will be the surface at the Paris Olympics.

Eventually, Bopanna chose Balaji and that move was greenlit by the AITA without any controversies. Something that the Coorg native welcomed. “We’ve all had some crazy times in the past. It’s wonderful that this time AITA also understood what the positives of the pick were,” Bopanna told Hindustan Times.

But why the 67th-ranked Balaji? “Being on clay, I thought somebody with more weapons could be beneficial as my partner. Though Yuki is also playing good tennis, for me at this stage I need a partner with an explosive gamestyle who is also quick and agile,” said Bopanna in the same interview.

For Balaji it is a dream come true. “It is a dream-come-true moment and it is always special when you play for the country. I am happy that Rohan chose me as his partner, and I am looking forward to the Olympics. Playing in Paris was always in the back of my mind, with Yuki and me ranked the highest among the Indians (behind Bopanna),” he told Times of India.

Ahead of the Olympics, which follows just weeks after grass court activity at Wimbledon, the duo will play in Hamburg and Umag to get back to the rigour of clay courts.

Nagal’s qualification for the Olympics, though, has been dramatic and needed a proverbial sprint at the finish line.

It has been a year to remember for the Jhajjar-born. A second round run at the Australian Open after beating a seeded player in the first round. Multiple firsts at ATP level events. Qualification for Wimbledon for the first time. And then a mad dash towards the Paris Olympics.

He won the ATP Challenger title in Chennai in February and then at Heilbronn Neckarcup in Germany. It was followed by a run to the final in Perugia, Italy. It has earned him a career-high ranking of 71 which is the joint fourth-highest-ranked Indian man since rankings were introduced in 1973 – going past Paes and Anand Amritraj – and tied with Sashi Menon. The milestones to beat are Somdev Devvarman’s 62nd, Ramesh Krishnan’s 23rd and Vijay Amritraj’s 18th.

While it is still not set in stone that Nagal will qualify for the Paris Olympics but the chances are good. The top 56 ranked players reach the main draw, but there’s a four player limit per country. Additionally, there are likely to be multiple withdrawals given the task of switching surfaces from grass to clay.

Is a medal possible?

There is a strong chance of Bopanna and Balaji going the distance in the men’s doubles event. But the odds of coming away with a medal are slim. At Roland Garros, Bopanna has seen an uptick in results recently with two semi-finals in three years in men’s doubles. Before that, he had been to the quarter-finals four times and won the mixed doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski in 2017. But the task gets tougher to form a relationship with a new partner in such a quick time.

Sure, they have teamed up in the past – at a Davis Cup tie in 2017 and Chengdu Open in 2018 with two wins and a loss. Since then, though, they’ve both had their journeys and synergised with different partners. To get that in two tournaments, after switching surfaces, is a big ask.

For Nagal, in men’s singles, his consistent performances bode well for the future, especially considering he’s India’s lone singles torchbearer.

Just last year, Nagal spoke of financial struggles while being ranked outside the top 500. His dedication to fitness and capitalising on opportunities have propelled him this year. He’s bagged two Challenger titles, showcasing his strength.

The next stage for Nagal requires bigger wins. But with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and more in the draw, a medal is a challenge – even on his favourite surface.