Indian tennis: Rohan Bopanna gets new partner for Australian Open

Quarantine bio bubbles have been tough on a lot of us but in a day and age when a lot many people are travelling with relative ease, sportsmen have fond it tough to be confined to there rooms even for two weeks given that training and consistency is so important before a tournament. Rohan Bopanna, the former world number 3 in the Doubles category will be vying to get back on the court not just due to being away for months from tennis but also after a 14 day quarantine in his hotel room.

The former French Open winner and Australian Open finalist expressed his views on the matter by saying " I'd had a good two and a half weeks of training back home in Bangalore. I was really looking forward ot coming and making good use of the programme," Bopanna told TOI. Rohan Bopanna has kept himself busy by following indoor room workouts and by completing an online course on sports marketing he had enrolled for. Using exercise bands and

His mixed doubles partner will be China's Duan Yingying and there is no problem or uncertainty on that end. The other problem was that his partner, Joao Sousa tested positive for Covid-19 before travelling for the tournament and this initially left Rohan Bopanna hanging with the issue of finding a new partner for his doubles event.

While Sousa did test negative after subsequently, the tournament rules and travel restrictions forced him to withdraw from the tournament. However, New Zealand's Ben McLachlan has been allotted the empty position beside Rohan Bopanna for the men's doubles event in the Australian Open. This will be a big mental boost to him considering that it was uncertain whether he would find a partner in time for the draw that is to take place on February 4^th. Tennis fans will also be hoping for an Indian win especially since this is the first major tournament since the pandemic.