Tennis: Bopanna is hoping for a successful 2017 season with new partner

Rohan Bopanna partnered a number of different players in 2016 like Florin Mergea, Denis Istomin, Jean-Julien Rojer, Nicolas Mahut, Leander Paes (in Davis Cup and Olympics), Frederik Nielsen, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Daniel Nestor, and Treat Huey.

Though he ended the year on a positive note by reaching the Semi-finals of the Paris Masters, Bopanna commences the 2017 season at the Chennai Open partnering Jeevan and then joins forces with Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay for the season.

Admitting that the change of partners hampered his 2016 campaign, Bopanna is hoping to change things around in the new campaign. “After Wimbledon, he (Florin) was playing with Horea Tecau and I was consistently looking for a partner for different tournaments. It’s not easy to play with different partners and that was the main reason (for bad results),” Bopanna said.

“It’s a dream to win a Grand Slam, hopefully it (new partnership) will make a difference. I have always liked the way he plays the game. I have played numerous times against him. He is a solid player who serves and stays at the back, just like Florin. He has won one Grand Slam before. He has experience of playing at high level, so it’s a good chance for me to do well,” added Bopanna.

“This (partnership with Cuevas) also gives me a chance to play on the deuce court having played on the ad-court for some time with Florin,” said Bopanna who is presently ranked number 28 in the World Doubles Rankings.

source: http://www.tennisworldusa.org / Tennis World Magazine / Home> News / by Akshay Kohli / January 04th, 2017