Paris Olympics 2024: Why was Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji’s first-round men's doubles match postponed? 

Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji were all set to begin their campaign in the Paris Olympics 2024 on Saturday, July 27. They were scheduled to lock horns with the French pair of Gael Monfils and Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Court 12. However, the match did not take place and had to be postponed to Sunday, July 28.

Monfils, the husband of Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina, had come in as a replacement for Fabien Reboul, who was ruled out of the championship because of an injury. As far as the match was concerned, it did not take place on Saturday due to heavy rain. Due to Court 12 being one of the outside courts, play could not take place.

The decision to postpone the match to Sunday was taken after 7:45 PM IST. Bopanna came close to winning the bronze medal in the Rio Olympics eight years ago along with Sania Mirza but finished fourth. However, he won the mixed doubles title at the 2017 French Open followed by the men’s doubles title earlier this year at the Australian Open.

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Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal among Indian stars in Paris Olympics

Along with Bopanna and Balaji, the other Indian star in tennis in Paris is Sumit Nagal, who has grown leaps and bounds in the last seven months. Nagal will start his campaign in men’s singles on Sunday with the match against France’s Corentin Moutet. If he wins the match, he could possibly run into World No.6 Alex de Minaur, who has done well in Grand Slams of late.

Back in 1996, Leander Paes became the first Indian to win a medal in tennis at the Olympics. Nagal, Bopanna, and Balaji are in with a herculean task of ending India’s long wait of winning a tennis medal at the quadrennial event in Paris.

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