India at Wimbledon 2017: Analysis of the draw
With Wimbledon seeds now announced ahead of the tournament, which commences on the 3rd of July 2017, two Indian players will be seeded in the main draw of the tournament with their respective partners.
Here’s a look:
Women’s Doubles
Former World No. 1 Sania Mirza will pair up with Belgian ace Kirsten Flipkens for Wimbledon. Flipkens is primarily a singles specialist, and a former top-15 player in the WTA; the Belgian is a former semi-finalist at Wimbledon, reaching that stage in 2013 before losing to eventual champion Marion Bartoli.
Flipkens reached Round 2 in the doubles that same year, her highest ever doubles finish at the Grass slam.
This year, the 31-year-old has seen second- and third-round losses at various tournaments in the singles, but she has been more successful in the doubles. With partner Johanna Larsson, she reached the finals of the outdoor clay court Nuremberg Cup, eventually losing to Anna Smith and Nicole Melichar in a tough final.
Flipkens also reached the quarter-finals of the French Open in the women’s doubles this year with former champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy. The pair would end up losing again to the eventual champions, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.
An all-court player, Flipkens is most comfortable on grass, where her quick serve and gameplay and serve-and-volley prowess will come into play.
Mirza is a former champion at Wimbledon in the doubles, winning the 2015 title with Martina Hingis. Following her surprise split from the former singles No. 1 in 2016, Mirza partnered with Barbora Strycova, with whom she had a successful run in the latter half of the 2016 season with a title sweep on the WTA circuit. Following this, she also paired up with former partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the current doubles No. 1, to win a title.
Most recently at the Slam level, the Indian played with Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova at the French Open, with the two losing in Round 1. She then paired with American Coco Vandeweghe at the Birmingham Classic on grass, but the two played – and won – one match, against Anastasia Rodionova and Darija Jurak, before retiring from the tournament.
Flipkens and Mirza have both had their share of injuries, but with Mirza’s aggressive serve and Flipkens’ fleet-footed volleying, they could go deep here.
The pair will be seeded 13th at Wimbledon.
Mirza and Flipkens play their Round 1 match against Shuai Zhang and Naomi Osaka.
Men’s Doubles
Rohan Bopanna, who won the mixed doubles title at the French Open – his first ever Grand Slam title, has also been having a good year in the men’s doubles. The top Indian doubles player and then-partner Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay together won the Monte Carlo Masters title on clay earlier this year, but with Cuevas suffering a knee injury, the Uruguayan ace will sit out Wimbledon.
Bopanna will now partner with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, a former Grand Slam winner in the men’s doubles. Primarily a doubles specialist, the 33-year-old reached the finals of Wimbledon last year with partner Julien Benneteau; the final was an all-French one, with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut taking home the trophy.
While Roger-Vasselin’s best surface is hard-courts, he has progressed fairly deep into slams on multiple occasions – making the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2014.
Since the French Open, Bopanna has played with big-serving Croatian Ivan Dodig at Queen’s, and Brazil’s Andre Sa at Eastbourne. Interestingly, Ivan Dodig and Edouard Roger-Vasselin paired up at Eastbourne.
The Indo-French pair will be seeded eighth at the tournament.
Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin open Wimbledon against the all-German pair of Dustin Brown and Mischa Zverev.
Leander Paes and Adil Shamasdin
Leander Paes, making his 23rd appearance at the All-England Tennis and Croquet Club, will partner experienced Canadian Adil Shamasdin, who like Paes is a doubles specialist.
They will start off against the all-Austrian combine of Julian Knowle and Philipp Oswald.
Indians Purav Raja and Divij Sharan will also pair up for the tournament, as will Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who plays with Jared Donaldson of the United States of America. Neither pair is seeded, however, and will play through the main draw.
The Indo-American pair of Nedunchezhiyan and Donaldson open against Jay Clarke and Marcus Willis, both British, while Raja and Sharan begin their jaunt against Kyle Edmund and Joao Sousa.