Rohan Bopanna secured a direct entry into the men's doubles at the Rio Olympics after officially returning to the top-10 in the ATP men’s doubles rankings on Monday.
Having lost in the quarter-finals at the French Open, the Indian doubles star needed defending champions Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig to lose in the semi-finals to return to top-10. Since third seeds Melo- Dodig were beaten by 15th seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 Bopanna gained a place and moved to No 10.
"Really proud to have qualified into the top 10 rankings,Brink of RIO Olympics deadline ??. #GoalsWithDreams," he tweeted.
Leander Paes, who also lost in the men's doubles quarter-finals at the French Open where he won the mixed doubles crown partnering Martina Hingis, gained five places and is now placed at 46.
Being a top-10 player, Bopanna not only gets a direct entry to the Rio Games but also has the privilege of selecting his partner for the men's doubles irrespective of the player’s ranking.
India’s next best players in the men’s doubles are Purav Raja (103) Divij Sharan (114), Saketh Myneni (125), Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (134) and Mahesh Bhupathi (164).
In singles, out-of-action Yuki Bhambri slipped six more places to 147. He is followed by Myneni (150) and Ramkumar Ramanathan (224).
In women's doubles, Sania Mirza continues as joint world No 1 with Swiss partner Martina Hingis.
Prarthana Thombare is the second highest-ranked Indian player at number 209.
In singles, Ankita Raina dropped out of the top-300, having slipped 10 places to 306.
