Indian tennis player, Rohan Bopanna, secured a spot in the Australian Open 2024 men’s doubles final alongside his Australian partner Matthew Ebden. This marked Bopanna’s consecutive appearance in a Grand Slam final, breaking his own record as the oldest man to reach this stage at the age of 43.
Bopanna’s impending rise to the world No. 1 men’s doubles player position at 43 years old would make him the oldest player ever to achieve this milestone, surpassing the ranks of Indian tennis legends Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza.
Moreover, he surpassed Rajeev Ram’s record, making him the oldest men’s doubles player to reach world No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. His doubles’ partner, Ebden, also climbed to the No. 2 position in the men’s doubles rankings.
The Indo-Australian duo defeated the unseeded pair of Czechia’s Tomas Machac and China’s Zhizhen Zhang in the semi-finals with a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) win.
The Indo-Australian duo will either face Italy’s Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli or Germany’s Yanick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer on January 28.
The All India Tennis Association congratulated Bopanna on X. “A Tennis marvel at 43! Rohan Bopanna’s journey to the Australian Open Men’s Doubles final showcases the spirit of resilience and passion for the game. This marks his back-to-back Grand Slam final appearance, following the 2023 US Open,” the post read.
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