Why India’s male players are flocking to doubles — and what it means for tennis in the country Premium

Indian men's tennis doubles success, pathway laid by legends, Doubles Dream program, prize money increase, future of the sport.

On March 1, Indian men’s tennis enjoyed a rare moment of glorious sunshine. At the Dubai ATP 500, Yuki Bhambri — alongside Australian Alexei Popyrin — won his biggest doubles crown till date. At the Chile Open ATP 250, Rithvik Bollipalli — partnering Colombian Nicolas Barrientos — claimed his second career title, and at the Bengaluru Open ATP 125 Challenger, Anirudh Chandrasekar — in the company of Taiwan’s Ray Ho — lifted his most significant trophy yet.

At a time when the singles game in the country is gasping for breath — World No. 132 Sumit Nagal is the only Indian in the top-400 and the only one to win Challengers in the last three years — the doubles results have come like oxygen.

In the recent four-Challenger home swing, Indian players won a grand total of one singles match. But in doubles, Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Niki Poonacha reached finals while Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Anirudh triumphed.

The latest rankings feature as many as six Indians in the doubles top-100, with another four between 101 and 170. Bhambri and Bollipalli enjoy career-highs of 39 — 18 places behind leader Rohan Bopanna — and 65 respectively. As does Sriram Balaji at 61. Anirudh is up 30 places to 109, 22 shy of his best-ever.

“I feel it is the pathway that has been laid out by Leander [Paes], Mahesh [Bhupathi] and Rohan,” Anirudh told The Hindu when asked why Indian doubles was doing well. “Indians, I feel, are naturally very skilful. We play on really fast surfaces, develop a net game from a very young age and also serve and volley. The sense of doubles is also very high because we practise it from a very young age.”

It is a theory expounded by Bopanna too, as he told The Tennis Tribe podcast last year. But possessing the required skill-set — dexterity, supple wrists, better hand-eye coordination, etc. — is just one part of it. Honing it to meet modern-day requirements needs a nurturing environment.

It is here that the Doubles Dream of India programme has helped. Launched in January 2023 by the Pune Metropolitan District Tennis Association with help from industrialist Kishor Patil, and mentored by Bopanna, it has supported players with coaches and physios for at least 25 weeks of the calendar.