For Balaji and Vishnu, the dream has just begun
Back in 1999 Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes made history when they became the first Indian doubles team to win the Wimbledon doubles title. In a sport that had been dominated by British, American and Australian tennis players for so long, the duo overcame the odds to beat Jared Palmer and Paul Haarhuis.
Australian pair Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde reigned throughout the 90s, winning the men’s doubles five times in a row between 1993 and 1997. So it really was a huge achievement to see success for any other men’s doubles team in that era.
Vardham and Balaji qualify for Wimbledon 2018
Vishnu Vardhan and Sriram Balaji will be hoping to follow in their footsteps and become the first Indian doubles team this century to win at Wimbledon. After a 6-3 6-4 win over Denys Molchanov and Igor Zelenay in Wimbledon qualifying, they have given themselves a dream opportunity. Today’s Wimbledon draw will mark an amazing journey for them.
A year after choosing to focus on doubles, @vishnu_vardhan9 and Sriram Balaji set for #Wimbledon debut https://t.co/uXUXtrdwyz pic.twitter.com/06zNjWaOtP
— The Field (@thefield_in) June 28, 2018
Crowd-funding and other support
It has not been an easy road for them, with several stumbling blocks along the way. As most doubles competitors will tell you, the financial aspect can be the hardest problem, if you are not winning major competitions. Vardhan came up with a great idea that they would ask for crowd-funding via social media to help them and this led to people reaching out to them to provide support.
Indian tennis legends Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna heard about their plight and were also keen to ensure India’s latest Grand Slam doubles pair were able to continue their preparations. They have also now partnered with Mytrah Energy in a sponsorship deal.
Concentrating on doubles now
They decided to concentrate on doubles just last year and it has clearly paid off for them. They have made seven ATP Challenger finals and won five of those. The Wimbledon draw 2018 is made this morning and they will be excited to find out who their first opponents are in the draw. They will be hoping to avoid some of the top Wimbledon seeds 2018, to take the easier route to the final.
