Rohan Bopanna has an ace up his sleeve

WATCH VIDEO |Chennai Open 2017 Final: Rohan Bopanna – Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan Lift Title

Break point, in the second game of the final, on Sharan’s serve. True to their tactics, Purav Raja asked his partner to serve down the T, to Bopanna’s backhand side. The idea was to get the world number 28 to play his shot back to Sharan, to which Raja would intercept with his trademark dropshot dink over the net. Only, Bopanna is India’s highest-ranked player.

The return he mustered was a powerful thump down the line that blazed past Raja. A bludgeoning one-handed backhand that gave Bopanna and Jeevan the first break of serve. And the early momentum to seal the title 6-3, 6-4.

Among the four Indian players on court, Jeevan was the most inexperienced in the doubles game. He spent most of the 2016 season plying his trade in Challenger events — winning two titles in Nanjing, China and Karshi, Uzbekistan.

Raja and Sharan, in turn, have been scratching the surface of the higher ATP levels, winning four Challengers and an ATP 250 title last year. Bopanna, meanwhile, is a veteran at the higher echelons of the sport. A winner of 14 ATP titles previously, he had the experience to guide his partner to his first ever ATP championship.

“He told me to just have fun and believe in my strokes. He kept me in the moment to make sure the final stage didn’t get the better of me,” Jeevan says. “The plan for me was to just start the point when I was receiving. It’s hard facing a lefty’s (Sharan) swinging serve and Purav’s kick serve. I just had to get the ball back in play.”

Bopanna would do the rest

Towering over the others at six-foot-three, the former world number three made his size count at the net, especially on Jeevan’s serve.

Sharan and Raja found it difficult to get past Bopanna to attack Jeevan – the weaker link in the team. Even on return, Bopanna proved his greater stature.

“It was hard serving at 180 when the return shot would be over 200,” mentions Raja. “He kept hitting the line, and that’s what makes him one of the best players in doubles for the last decade. He counteracts whatever we could do. And Jeevan played a good supporting hand.”

The backhands were colossal. The forehands possibly even bigger. At the deciding point with Raja on serve, Bopanna slammed back a return that Raja could not control. It gave Bopanna and Jeevan the break of serve to go up 5-3 in the first set.

Bopanna slammed two aces in the next game to serve out the set.

He would step up to the baseline to serve out the match as well – clocking a massive 201 and Raja could only shank the ball into the stands.

The all-Indian final ensured there would be an Indian champion at the Chennai Open for the first time since 2012, when Leander Paes partnered Janko Tipsarevic to the title. A year earlier, Paes paired up with Mahesh Bhupathi to win their fifth Chennai Open title — the last time an Indian pair had won it.

Bopanna, too, has experience of being in a title clash at the SDAT Tennis Stadium. In 2006, he was the losing finalist along with Prakash Amritraj.

This was only the second time he’d made it to the title decider, and for him, it comes at an ideal time.

“Last year was rough for me. I didn’t win a title last year. So it’s great to start a new season with a title immediately,” Bopanna says.

Jeevan’s doubles career, meanwhile, has got off the mark. And a lot had to do with Bopanna’s presence.

The senior player’s superior ranking allowed the pair a spot among the 16 teams in the doubles. And it was Bopanna’s skill, experience and guidance throughout the tournament that won them the title.

The Indian doubles star later tweeted a video of the four finalists celebrating the historic occasion by cutting a cake. After all the controversy that has plagued Indian tennis in the recent past, finally there was a sign of camaraderie and togetherness.