Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna opened up about why he preferred Sriram Balaji as his doubles partner for Paris Olympics 2024 over Yuki Bhambri. Bopanna pointed out that Balaji was better on clay
than Bhambri, which is why he chose him as his partner.
The 44-year-old had to make a choice between Balaji and Yuki Bhambri and after consulting his coaches, Scott Davidoff and Balachandran Mannikkath, he eventually settled for the more “athletic and agile” Balaji.
“I felt Balaji, depending on the surface we’re playing with, which is clay, would have been the ideal partner. Currently, even if you look at (Matthew) Ebden, who I’m playing with, he’s somebody who’s more agile, and explosive on that surface,” Bopanna said.
“And for clay, especially, I need a partner who would suit me better in terms of going by the surface. If it was a hard court or a grass court, maybe Yuki would have been the preferred choice,” he added.
Bopanna has reason to have that confidence in Balaji’s ability to rise to the occasion. He had a chance to test Balaji at the French Open where Bopanna was pushed along with Matthew Ebden by the Tamil Nadu player and his Mexican partner Miguel Reyes-Varela.
Not only this, Balaji had a consistent run on the ATP Tour where he scalped a few big names such as Americans Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek both top-10 players, at the Houston ATP 250 event on clay.
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