Sports

'Oldest World No. 1' Rohan Bopanna Makes History, Enters Australian Open Semis With Matthew Ebden

By - 24 Jan 2024 09:44 AM

India star Rohan Bopanna made Grand Slam history as he progressed to the semi-finals of the Australian Open 2024 men's doubles event. Bopanna and his partner Matthew Ebden reached the semi-finals with a straight-sets win against the Argentine pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni on Wednesday. Courtesy of the quarter-final win in the Australian Open, Bopanna will become the No. 1 men's doubles player in the world, at the age of 43. When the rankings are updated, he will become the oldest player in the sport's history to clinch the numero uno spot.

Less than a year ago, when he and his partner Ebden lost the US Open 2023 final, Bopanna became the oldest man to qualify for a grand slam final in the Open era. It had been more than 20 years since Bopanna's debut.Bopanna ranked No. 3 going into the Australian Open, which was a career-high. With his run to the semi-finals of the first Grand Slam of the year, the seasoned Indian is sure to take the top spot when the rankings are revised the following week. Mathew Ebden, his men's doubles partner, is certain to hold the No. 2 ranking in the rankings.Bopanna made it into the Australian Open semifinals for the first time in her previous 17 tries.

In the semi-finals, the second-seeded Indo-Australian duo will square off against the unseeded Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang.

Prior to this, in October 2022, at the age of 38, American player Rajeev Ram became the oldest player to hold the top spot in the world rankings.

Bopanna, who debuted at world No. 3 in 2013, is the fourth Indian player to hold the top spot in the world rankings for doubles, following Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza.

Austin Krajicek of the USA, who lost in the second round with partner Ivan Dodig of Croatia, will relinquish his top spot to him.Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada won the mixed doubles title at the 2017 French Open. He has, however, yet to win a title in men's doubles; in the US Open, he placed second twice, in 2010 alongside Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Quresh and in 2023 alongside Ebden.

Bopanna actually became the oldest Grand Slam finalist ever last year when he accomplished this at the US Open.

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In addition, Bopanna is the oldest player to win a Masters 1000 men's doubles championship. Together with Ebden, he accomplished the remarkable feat of winning the coveted Indian Wells tournament last year at the age of 43.