Add to the young and fast-growing list of Rohan Bopanna’s oldest to-do-so things — make a Grand Slam final, win an ATP Masters title, enter the top five rankings — is his impending status as the new world No. 1 in doubles.
At 43 and on Monday when the ATP rankings will be updated, the Indian, currently ranked third, will occupy the top spot of the ATP doubles charts for the first time in his career after progressing to the Australian Open semi-final with partner Matthew Ebden.
The Indo-Aussie pair’s 6-4, 7-6(5) quarter-final win over Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni on Wednesday had a lot more riding on it than its third straight last-four appearance in a Grand Slam and Bopanna’s first at Melbourne Park. The world No.1 ranking lay on the line for the man two months shy of turning 44, and he sure knew it.
It not only makes Bopanna the oldest first-timer at the top of the rankings, but also the oldest man to be there since the ATP rankings were introduced in 1973. American Rajeev Ram, at 38, was the previous oldest first-time doubles No. 1 in October 2022.
It also makes Bopanna the first Indian since Sania Mirza, who became the top-ranked woman in doubles in 2015, to hold the world No.1 spot. Indian legends Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have been there too but for the late-bloomer Bopanna, this is a belated climb to the top after turning pro more than a couple of decades ago and switching to doubles over a decade ago.
“I think for every player out there, it is a dream,” Bopanna said of the No.1 tag after Wednesday’s win. “It was my dream, and more so when you’re playing this sport for a couple of decades. And then now at this juncture for me to get to world No.1… I think my perseverance in the sport, to stay in it and to keep fighting and keep working hard… it helped me get to this stage.”
The big-serving Bopanna, who won the 2017 French Open mixed doubles title yet had just four semi-final Slam shows before that in a career that took time to find its feet, thought of pulling the plug a few years ago with both knees giving up.
However, the Covid pandemic and “those four months sitting at home figuring out what to do”, as Bopanna put it on Wednesday, “was a blessing in disguise”. The post-40 Rohan resurgence is down to his renewed hunger, trying out unique ways of staying physically fit (practising Iyengar yoga, for instance) and finding the right partner in Ebden.
Their run in Australia this year exemplifies their growth as a pair. Combining at the start of last year when both were hunting for partners after the 2022 season, the Bopanna-Ebden ride was off to a stuttering start as they crashed out in the opening round of the previous Australian Open. But after their first tile at the ATP 250 Doha in February, they went all the way at the ATP 1000 Indian Wells in March, where Bopanna became the oldest Masters champion. The French Open first-round exit was only a blip before the two picked up pace again, making the Wimbledon semi-final and US Open final — it made Bopanna the oldest Slam finalist — and signing off the season with two Masters final appearances.
Ebden, 36, also has the same number of points as Bopanna but the latter gets the tag for playing three fewer tournaments last year. “Technically we should be No. 1 together,” Bopanna chuckled in the press conference, high-fiving Ebden.
The spot and stage, for now, though is for Bopanna alone. “I think Indian tennis, India needed this. We don’t really have many tennis players coming up. Sport is slowly coming up. I think it’s just going to inspire a lot of people,” he said. “And I don’t think just in tennis. People all over the world, being 40 and above, I think it’s just going to inspire them in a different way.”