It is the first time the final match of the season will decide who is ranked number one.
Ace doubles player Leander Paes and his big-serving partner Rohan Bopanna did not practise or play enough together to give themselves a decent chance to win a medal in the men's doubles event at the Rio Olympic Games, said the former's ex-partner Mahesh Bhupathi in Mumbai on Monday. "The (men's) doubles team was definitely under-prepared, in fact there no preparation - that's the right word. "They did not practise, did not play any matches together. Even when Leander and me were not playing on tour in 2004 and 2008 (Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing), we always came together, played a couple of tournaments together. That's what the Olympics demands," said Bhupathi at the Khar Gymkhana in Mumbai.
India were left to rue a missed opportunity in tennis with Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna's losing in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles after Lalita Babar became the first woman in three decades to enter the final of a track event, on Day 8 of the 2016 Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, on Saturday.
India's Olympic aspirations failed to blossom in the face of personal egos of star tennis players even as the legend of Sania Mirza continued to grow and an ageless Leander Paes basked in personal glory in 2016.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne, on Thursday.
As the year 2016 draws to a close, vote for the best Indian sportsperson of the year.
Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky continued to swipe past the seeds at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday by dumping World No 4 Maria Sharapova from the hard court tournament with a 7-6(3), 7-5 victory.
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