‘It’ll inspire Gen Next’

Rohan Bopanna, 43, says his feat of becoming oldest World No. 1 in doubles means a lot not just for him, but for Indian tennis too; storms into semis

Rohan Bopanna feels that his ascent to World No. 1 in doubles rankings at the twilight of his career is perfect boost that Indian tennis needed just when it was falling off the radar. Bopanna is set to become the oldest tennis player to achieve the World No. 1 ranking in men’s doubles after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open along with his partner Matthew Ebden of Australia here on Wednesday.

The 43-year-old, who had entered the tournament with a career-high ranking of World No. 3, and Ebden recorded a comfortable 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over sixth seeded Argentinian duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the quarter-finals that lasted an hour and 46 minutes here.

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Bopanna will be crowned the new numero uno spot on Monday after the end of the tournament. “It [the feat] means a lot not to just me, but for Indian tennis also. You need something to inspire the next generation. Sumit [Nagal] also had a great Australian Open. He won a round,” Bopanna told PTI in an exclusive interview from Melbourne.

‘Extremely proud’

And the star player said the feat came with a lot of sacrifices. “Extremely proud of this [World No.1 ranking in men’s doubles]. It’s a special moment. Lot of sacrifices have gone into this. My coaches, family everyone. My family is travelling with me, so different feeling,” he said.

In fact, he is more happy that for the past week,  Indian tennis has been in the news. “Nothing at all was happening in Indian tennis. You [journalists] also did not have much to write about, so this has happened at the right time.”

Earlier, Rajeev Ram of the USA was the oldest player to be ranked World No. 1 when he had achieve the top ranking in October 2022 at the age of 38 for the first time in his career.

Ebden to be World No. 2

Ebden, on the other hand, is set to reach the World No. 2 spot. Bopanna twice reached the US Open final, but never won a men’s doubles major.

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