Though they started playing together in doubles three years ago, it was during the last 10 months that things have fallen in place for N. Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan. It culminated in the pair securing its maiden Grand Slam (Wimbledon) main draw entry, on Wednesday.
Over the last one year, the duo has won five ATP Challengers including one in Chennai in February . Despite winning titles, it had a few setbacks in between when Balaji had an ankle injury and Vishnu took a break from the game for personal reasons, which affected the results when they got back together.
But the off-court chemistry between the two players of similar mould ensured they found form again and are set to make their debut at the hallowed lawns of the All England Club.
READ: Vardhan, Balaji to shift focus on playing only doubles
Speaking to Sportstar , Vishnu Vardhan recalled, “We had been playing doubles on the Challenger tour for the past three years, but our primary focus was on singles. We were good friends off-court and decided to do a full schedule and see where it could go.
“What we realised was, we were winning matches even though we played a crude form of doubles. So we decided around last year, if we could finetune and play more efficiently, we could definitely do well.”
The 28-year-old Balaji, who trains at the Alexander Waske academy in Germany, added, “We know we are not the complete package and there are areas we have to improve, but over the last year, we were able to slowly improve by focusing on a particular set of skills and reviewing it periodically.”
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