India’s best singles player, the World No. 98 Sumit Nagal is already out of the French Open 2024, after he faced a first round 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) defeat to Karen Khachanov, but his campaign is still not over. The 26-year-old Nagal will be seen in the French Open men’s doubles as well, as he made a surprise entry to the roster, along with Austrian Sebastian Ofner.
Nagal/Ofner are slated to take on the No. 2 seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden in the first round itself. This development happened after Bopanna’s first round opponents Emil Ruusuvouri/Martin Fucsovics pulled out of the tournament in the last minute. But this could just be a blessing in disguise for India.
Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal & Paris 2024 Olympics Connection
The Paris 2024 Olympics are a couple of months away and veteran Rohan Bopanna would be there for sure. But it is not clear, as to who will be he men’s doubles partner. It could be Yuki Bhambri, or now, even Sumit Nagal, who can play doubles as well. In fact, back in 2015, he had won the Junior Wimbledon title in boys doubles, along with Vientnam’s Ly Hoang Nam.
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So, Bopanna has one more option for him. Simultaneously, there’s Yuki Bhambri too, who is playing the French Open men’s doubles with Albano Olivetti. Not just that, Yuki is ranked 52nd in the world and had recently reached the final of the Lyon Open.
Paris 2024 Qualification for Men’s Doubles
As many as 32 pairs will fight it out in the Paris 2024 Games. But to make it to the Olympics, it is not an easy task. Out of the 32 berths, 10 will be given to the top-10 players in the doubles rankings. Those 10 can select any partner within top 300 of singles of doubles players. So with Bopanna at 4 currently, he gets to choose his partner.