Tennis great Novak Djokovic lauded Rohan Bopanna after the latter achieved a milestone of becoming oldest men's doubles' World no.1. The Indo-Australian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden marched into Australian Open 2024's men's doubles final on January 25.
Earlier, by clinching victory in the quarterfinal against the Argentinian pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, Bopanna achieved the distinction of becoming the oldest first-time world No. 1 in ATP men's doubles ranking history.
This record was formerly held by the USA's Rajeev Ram, who, at the age of 38, claimed the top spot for the first time in his career in October 2022, replacing his partner Joe Salisbury of Great Britain.
Amidst the celebratory atmosphere in India, Djokovic took to Instagram to share a post with a humorous message for Bopanna on January 24 with a captain, "Congratulations Bops. Amazing effort. And to do it at such a young age. Even more impressive."
The following day, Bopanna surpassed his previous best performance at the Australian Open, advancing to his second consecutive Grand Slam final alongside Ebden and securing the third final appearance of his career. This achievement came after a tense super-tiebreak victory in the semifinal against Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen at the iconic Rod Laver Arena.
In a conversation with the news agency PTI from Melbourne, Bopanna, set to claim the top ranking on January 29 regardless of the final result, believes that his accomplishment at the age of 43 provides a much-needed boost to Indian tennis just when it seemed to be fading from prominence.
"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," the Indian said. "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."
The second semifinal on Rod Laver Arena features the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori against Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann from Germany. The winners of this match will go on to challenge Bopanna and Ebden in the final scheduled for January 27. If Bopanna, the 2017 French Open mixed doubles champion with Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski, emerge victorious in the final, he would secure the title of the oldest ATP Slam winner in history for his first major in men's doubles.
Meanwhile, Djokovic advanced to his 11th Australian Open semifinal after overcoming a tough challenge from Taylor Fritz earlier in the week. In the next round, he is set to face Jannik Sinner, who defeated him twice in late 2023, for a chance to reach the final.
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