Rohan Bopanna will pair up with Sania Mirza at Australian Open

Veteran Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna will team up with Sania Mirza as doubles partners at the Australian Open 2020 which will start next week. Rajeev Ram was initially supposed to be Sania's partner at the tournament. But with him pulling out, Bopanna is set to be her new partner. The last time, Rohan and Sania played together was during the Rio Olympics, where they finished fourth.

In an interview with The New Indian Express, Bopanna said that they had taken the decision three days ago. In the men's doubles of the Australian Open, the 39-year-old player from Kodagu will be playing with Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama. He will play with his regular partner, Denis Shapavalov, from February.

The grand slam will be a crucial outing for the world no. 42 Bopanna who will be looking forward to doing well in Melbourne which can provide him with early session advantage in his quest to qualify for the Olympics.

Bopanna won the Qatar Open with Wesley Koolhof on Friday defeating the pair of Luke Bambridge and Santiago Gonzalez 3-6, 6-2, 10-6.

He told the media house that he will regain playing with Shapavalov after the Australian Open but hopes to have a few tournaments with Divij Sharan in the run-up to the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Sania Mirza has confirmed that she will be back to competitive tennis at Hobart International this week, two years after taking a maternity break. The 33-year-old, who last played at China Open in October 2017, will team up with Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok, the current world number 38.

Sania, married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, gave birth to their first son, Izhaan, in October last year.

Sania, a winner of six Grand Slam titles, confirmed that she is back to her best shape. So following the Hobart International Open, she will be taking up the challenge at the Australian Open.