He has annexed the world number one crown, and become the oldest-ever to do so at 43. But Rohan Bopanna is not done yet. The Indian tennis titan has stormed into the men's doubles final of Australian Open 2024 alongside trusted partner Matthew Ebden after a thrilling semi-final victory against Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic and Zhizhen Zhang of China.
In a humdinger that went into a Super Tie Breaker, the Indo-Australian pair came up trumps with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) scoreline after a gruelling battle of two hours and two minutes on the Rod Laver Arena. The win took Bopanna into the summit clash, where he and Ebden will take on the winner of the second last-four match between Italy's Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli and Germany's Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer.
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If he and Ebden win the final, it will be Bopanna's first-ever Majors trophy. The 43-year-old from Bengaluru has come close to winning Grand Slam titles but not achieved the feat yet. He had finished runners-up at the US Open 2023 alongwith Ebden, making Bopanna the oldest-ever Grand Slam finalist in the Open era.
The Indian tennis veteran is already assured of the top spot in the ATP rankings that will be released on Monday, January 29, 2024. He will displace the United States of America's Austin Krajicek from the numero uno throne.
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Bopanna's age-defying feat will admit him into the elite club of Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza - the three other Indians to have been world number one in doubles. Like his trailblazing compatriots, Bopanna too has a series of firsts to his name.
At 43, Bopanna became the oldest tennis player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title when he was triumphant at the Indian Wells last year, alongside Ebden.
