Star Indian doubles player hopes to get facility with four clay courts running by April

Dubai:

Indian doubles ace Rohan Bopanna will launch his tennis academy in Bengaluru next month.

35-year-old, who has struck a successful partnership with Romanian Florin Mergea on the ATP World Tour said that the focus of his academy will be on tapping talent in the 4 to 14 years age-group.

The academy that will be located on the outskirts of the country’s IT capital, is a personal initiative from the Indian Davis Cup player.

“I want to do this my way. I want the primary focus to be on fitness because that’s the most important factor in our sport today, also if the child then doesn’t want to play tennis, he or she can play another sport because they will already have the necessary early training,” Bopanna told Gulf News after he and Mergea had lost in the doubles to the veteran pairing of Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek.

Bopanna disclosed that he is teaming up with former South African professional Piet Norval and fitness trainer Yash Pandey in his new venture.

“Piet has done a fantastic job with kids back home in South Africa,” Bopanna said.

“He will visit the facility once every month for a week. I want to focus on juniors to begin with and then see if I want to expand in the future. Right now it’s all about a wholesome exposure to children who want to play the sport. I’m only having clay courts now because it’s easier on the body, more so when kids are learning the sport,” the 35-year-old added.

Bopanna will launch the academy with just four courts late next month before going into business probably a month later. “I’ve spoken to a lot of schools and the response so far has been very good. The idea is to get as many kids as possible playing the sport. The more the numbers, the greater our chances for success,” he said.

Bopanna and Mergea, ranked 8 and 12 individually, and placed 14 as a team, haven’t had a great start to the new season. Last year, the pair surprised a few when they sailed into the doubles final at the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals held at the O2 Arena. After Dubai they are scheduled to play Indian Wells and Miami before they hit the European trail for the clay court stretch.

source: http://www.gulfnews.com / Gulf News / Home> Sport> Tennis / by Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter / February 27th, 2016