Indian tennis is on a high like never before. Rohan Bopanna etched his name in the tennis record books on Wednesday when he became the oldest player to assure himself of the world No. 1 rank in men’s doubles.
In the process, he raised the spirit of many a sports enthusiast, young and old, by reaching the pinnacle at the age of 43.
To be precise, Bopanna will be 43 years and 332 days old on Monday, when the rankings are updated.
His feat follows that of India’s No. 1 singles player Sumit Nagal who reached the second round after defeating world No. 27 Alexander Bublik, ending the country’s 34-year wait to beat a seeded player in the singles main draw.
Bopanna, who had entered the tournament as world No. 3, and his Australian partner Mathew Ebden recorded a comfortable 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win over the sixth-seeded Argentinian duo of Máximo González and Andrés Molteni in the quarter finals.
“It feels absolutely incredible to be where I am today, especially after 20 years of being in the sport and constantly trying to achieve at the highest level,” Bopanna said during an interview on Sony Sports Network’s studio show Extraaa Serve.
“Indian tennis needed this. Watching sports, you always have idols while growing up. I hope my reaching the No. 1 position inspires someone back home. With all the support I have received in the last two decades, this is something I had to give back to the nation.”
The second-seeded Indo-Australian pair will cross swords with unseeded Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang in the semi-finals on Thursday morning.
Earlier, Rajeev Ram of the US was the oldest player to be ranked world No. 1 when he achieved the top ranking in 2022 at the age of 38 for the first time in his career.
Bopanna is the fourth Indian to be ranked No. 1 in doubles after Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza. He has a grand slam title in mixed doubles — at French Open 2017 with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski.
In men’s doubles, he has twice finished runner-up at the US Open — in 2010 with Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and 2023 with Ebden. The latter made him the oldest-ever grand slam finalist.
He also holds the record for being the oldest player to win a men’s doubles
title at a Masters event, which he achieved at Indian Wells last year at the age of
43 with Ebden.
“Indian tennis deserves a lot more credit,” continued Bopanna. “It’s a sport with a lot of talented youngsters, who really need the support to make it to the big stage. Today is a wonderful day to start this journey.”
Bopanna and Ebden’s doubles match began on Court 3, but it had to be shifted to the bigger Margaret Court Arena due to court condition issues — bubbles were spotted on Court 3 leading to uneven bounce.
“It was just one of those circumstances where it rained yesterday (Tuesday) and today it was very hot and the bubbles formed on the surface,” said Bopanna. “But we as professionals take it as just we would take a rain disruption. The tournament did a great job and found us an alternate court straightaway. We came back and carried on from where we had left off.”
While his phone has not stopped ringing since his win, Bopanna aims to remain focused and clinch his maiden men’s doubles grand slam crown.
With inputs from PTI
