Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna on Friday said he plans to team up with Divij Sharan and represent country at men's doubles event in next year's Olympics but for that to happen, y need to keep ir rankings high. 

Bopanna-Sharan combination

Bopanna started year playing alongside left-handed Sharan and won Pune Open title. "I started in Pune with Divij. Obviously, I and Divij wanted to try to play whole year toger but unfortunately our rankings were t high eugh," Bopanna, who has subsequently partnered Canian Denis Shapovalov, said in an e-mail interaction.  "And we h to forcefully change partners in March because we were t getting into any of 500s or Masters Series events and with Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Mrid, Rome all coming up, it was for us to find different partners or just miss entire season and t play at all.

"Unfortunately at that point we h option but to change partners wherever we can play toger we are still playing toger," he ded.
 

RE:KPL's Belagavi Panrs owner gets questioned in betting case

Bopanna on teaming up with Sharan for Olympics 

As for playing Tokyo Olympics with Sharan, he said, "Absolutely for Olympics, we need to make sure our rankings are high eugh to play toger.   "Wherever we can play toger, we are still trying to. That is key. good part is that ranking deline for Olympics is 2020 French Open.

"So we have a lot of tournaments to really work on and try to get rankings high eugh. And if our rankings are high eugh we will definitely be playing toger," he ded.
 

RE: ICC goofs up: States Dravid as a 'Left-Handed' Batsman on its website

Bopanna on Friday received support from athletic footwear and accessories manufacturer, ASICS in his pursuit for a medal at Olympics. ASICS also tied up with Rohan Bopanna Tennis Acemy in Bengaluru to nurture young aspirants to impart training at state-of--art facility. big-serving Bopanna, who has h a rar moderate season, winning only one title and reaching final at Stuttgart, said he would be playing upcoming tournaments with Shapovalov and was looking forward to finishing year on a strong point."It's t first year I've h a season like this. main thing to look forward to is hard-court season and it was a lot better compared to my clay-court season for sure. I'm playing more tournaments with a single partner and it has me an immense difference," he said."I've been playing with Dennis Shapovalov w for a few tournaments. I'm also playing next two 500s and Masters in Tokyo, Shanghai, Vienna, and Paris with Shapovalov. I'm really looking forward to finishing year pretty strong." Coorg-born player rated his doubles partner Shapovalov very highly.         "I think he is very flamboyant and unique. He is also equally talented as a tennis player. He is super quick so it makes it easy to work with him. He is young and being a left-handed player, he has got an extremely tough service to return," Bopanna said."That gives me a huge vant at net to constantly help him out in doubles. As a player, he is just getting better." Bopanna also praised young Sumit Nagal, who qualified for US Open main draw and took a set from legendary Roger Federer in first round.        "I think Sumit is definitely growing as a player and getting a lot more confident. Before coming to US Open where he took a set from Federer, he h a great clay-court season, doing really well in Challengers. He qualified for Hamburg 500 event too. Unfortunately, he got hurt re," he said."I was watching qualifying matches in US Open and he was playing extremely good tennis. I think he is definitely moving in right direction. "Apart from Sumit, even Prajnesh (Gunneswaran) has h a good year. He has sustained his ranking in top 100."

 RE: India's selection committee grooming backups for Pant: MSK Pras

RE: I'm t worried about exclusion from T20Is: Kuldeep Yav