French Open: How Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes can qualify for the Rio Olympics
The grand slam on clay has greater significance this year due to it being the last tournament that players can use to gain crucial ranking points before the cut-off date of 6th June. The qualification for the men’s doubles in the Olympics requires a player to be ranked in the top 10 in the world in the ATP doubles rankings or the combined ranking of the best team from the country making it to the 32 team draw. With no wildcards being offered this year at the Olympics, getting the points at Roland Garros becomes even more essential for the players.
The performance at the French Open will be extremely important, especially for the two Indian stalwarts Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes as they aim to secure a berth in the quadrennial extravaganza. As it stands according to the latest released doubles rankings, Bopanna is currently at the 11th spot whereas Paes is at the 51st spot.
Bopanna’s path to the top 10
India’s top-ranked player has had a good run on European clay so far reaching the finals in Madrid and a last four finish in Rome. As a result of which, he is currently world number 11 with a total of 4980 ranking points. The Bangalorean is defending 180 points in Paris owing to a third round appearance last year.
With a plethora of points at stake, the ranking table could see a major reshuffle on the Paris clay. The Top 10 ranked players and their ranking points are as follows:
Rank | Player Name | Current Ranking points | Points Dropping at French Open | Ranking points in Qualifying Period |
1 | Marcelo Melo | 7590 | 2000 | 5590 |
2 | Nicolas Mahut | 7580 | 180 | 7400 |
3 | Jamie Murray | 7535 | 180 | 7355 |
4 | Horia Tecau | 7450 | 720 | 6730 |
5 | Jean-Julien Rojer | 7290 | 720 | 6570 |
6 | Pierre-Hugues Herbert | 7190 | 180 | 7010 |
7 | Bob Bryan | 6870 | 1200 | 5670 |
8 | Mike Bryan | 6870 | 1200 | 5670 |
9 | Ivan Dodig | 5555 | 2000 | 3555 |
10 | Bruno Soares | 5510 | 360 | 5150 |
11 | Rohan Bopanna | 4980 | 180 | 4800 |
The highest ranked Indian has paired up with Romanian Florin Mergea and is seeded sixth in the draw. The duo will start their campaign against the all-French pair of Stephane Robert and Alexandre Sidorenko. If Bopanna-Mergea manage to reach the third round without any hiccups, they could face 11th seeded team of Henri Kontinen and John Peers.
The two teams played a close encounter in the quarterfinals in Madrid with the Indo-Romanian team edging out their opponents in a match tie-break. A possible quarterfinal against defending champions Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo awaits the sixth seeds, whom they defeated in another closely fought match in the semis in the Spanish capital.
Looking at the ranking points of the players in the qualifying period, it can be seen that the Top 8 players have a minimum of 5670 ranking points. With players below the Indian also gaining ranking points in the upcoming weeks, a third round finish will not be sufficient to ensure a Top 10 finish for Bopanna.
However, if he manages to reach the semifinals he would gain 720 points and will have a total of 5520 points. This could be sufficient for a top 10 ranking provided a lower ranked team does not go all the way to win the title at Roland Garros.
Leander’s route to the Olympics
India’s multi-grand slam winning player Leander Paes has encountered a slump of form over the past year that has resulted in his ranking plunge to world number 51. A top 10 finish in the ranking does not seem possible for the veteran but a strong showing at the French Open can help to improve the combined ranking of the Indian team.
Paes has paired up with Marcin Matkowski from Poland and they have been seeded sixteenth in the draw. They open their campaign against the unseeded pair of Aliaksandr Bury and Denis Istomin. A win could result in a clash with the all-American pair of Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson. The American duo are coming on the back of a title-winning performance at the Geneva Open.
If they manage to clear this hurdle, a probable third-round clash against 4th seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares awaits the Indo-Polish pair. Looking at the difficulty of the draw handed out, the task to gain crucial points in Paris is going to be a difficult one for the 42-year-old Indian. If the Indian gets knocked out early, a possibility could be him playing in one of the Challenger tournaments next week to gain some points. It is to be seen if the veteran takes this route to improve his ranking.
The cut-off ranking for the Olympics in 2012 was a combined team ranking of 69. With no wildcards for this year’s tournament, this could probably go down. However, the Indian pair is not assured of a place despite having a combined ranking of 62 at present.
The best case scenario would be for Bopanna to secure a top 10 ranking which would ensure a doubles team for India. If not, then the combined ranking of Bopanna and Paes needs to be high enough such that they make the cut for the 32 team draw. This would mostly depend on the performance of Paes in the coming weeks.
A place in the men’s doubles draw at the Olympics is also crucial as this would allow India to field a team in the mixed doubles with Sania Mirza, who has already qualified due to her number 1 ranking in women’s doubles.
Wishing the Indian contingent good luck for the French Open and securing a berth at the Rio Olympics!