Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest man to attain World No. 1 ranking

Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna on Monday climbed to World No 1 in the doubles rankings for the first time after winning the Australian Open with Matthew Ebden as ATP announced for the latest doubles rankingsAt the age of 43 Bopanna became the oldest firsttime World No 1 and the third Indian to achieve the milestone after Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi with whom he won two titlesIndia needed this We dont really have many tennis players coming up said Bopanna as quoted by ATPAlso ReadIt felt like my time in this world was up Pant on horrific car accidentSport is slowly coming up I think its just going to inspire a lot of people I dont think just in tennis People all over the world being 40 and above I think its just going to inspire them in a different way he addedBopanna won his first mens doubles Grand Slam at the Australian Open 2024 on Saturday moving up two positions in the ATP RankingsHe began the seasons first major tied for third place a position he had previously held in 2013 Bopanna and Ebden overcame Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the quarterfinals ensuring the Indians ascension to World No 1 despite facing challenges along the wayFor me to get to World No 1 I think is thanks to my perseverance to the sport to stay in it and to keep fighting and to keep working hard and have such a great partner by my side I think the consistent year we had last year is why this helped me get to this stage Bopanna saidBopanna has had a great association with Ebden which began at the start of the 2023 seasonIn their debut year together they qualified for the coveted ATP Finals with Bopanna making his fourth participation and Ebden making his firstIn hindsight it would have been amazing if we would have played for a long period of time but still we are enjoying where we are today and I think there are no real complaints on that You grow as a team I think we have also learned from each other what works for us what our strengths are and how we can improve the Indian saidBopanna and Ebden have the same number of ATP Doubles Rankings points but the Indian is at the top since he played three fewer tournaments to gain them Ebden complimented his companion on their successIt was a big goal of ours when we started this partnership over a year ago and we talked about it We made our intentions clear I want to get to World No 1 win the Slams the big tournaments We have ticked a lot of boxes the last year and this is another one of those A huge milestone Its an incredible thing for Bops especially at his age Ebden saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever