Indian Men’s Doubles Fall In First Round At Wimbledon
A string of opening-round losses reduces India’s doubles presence at Wimbledon, signaling costly serving problems.
Overview
- Three Indian pairs were beaten in the opening round on July 3, 2026, eliminating all Indian men’s doubles entries from the Wimbledon draw.
- Yuki Bhambri and Michael Venus lost 3-6, 4-6 to Jean-Julien Rojer and Theodore Winegar and committed seven double faults while failing to convert any break points.
- N. Sriram Balaji and Marcelo Demoliner were edged 6-3, 6-7 (7), 4-6 by Sander Gillé and Sem Verbeek in three sets, and Anirudh Chandrasekar with Takeru Yuzuki fell 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (10) in a match tiebreak decider.
- Reporters and match stats point to serve inconsistency and missed break opportunities as the decisive factors across the matches, with opponents winning a higher share of both first and second-serve points.
- Bhambri described the occasion as affecting his play and said he will refocus on India’s upcoming Davis Cup qualifiers, while the results pause his run of Grand Slam progress after strong showings in 2025 and earlier in 2026.