Pre-Olympic talk about tennis in India has always been about controversies. Before the 2012 London edition, there had been a row over player combination in mens doubles and mixed doubles, with Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza in the mix. Both Bhupathi and Paes wanted to combine with Bopanna but eventually, the former succeeded. Paes had to play with Vishnu Vardhan. Both pairs lost in the round of 16. Paes partnered Sania in the mixed doubles as part of the overall solution.

The pair lost in the quarterfinals. For the 2016 Olympics, Bopanna, who got a direct entry based on his ranking, wanted to partner Saketh Myneni in men's doubles instead of Paes but the All India Tennis Association (AITA) prevailed over them and got the two seniors to form a team. They lost in the first round. Sania and Bopanna lost in the bronze-medal playoff in mixed doubles, missing a medal by a whisker. With just three days to go for the start of the Tokyo Olympics, verbal volleys are flying thick and fast over a reported move by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to get Bopanna involved in doubles with Sumit Nagal, who made the cut late because of large scale withdrawals.