The grand old man of Indian tennis continues to soar. At "level 43", Rohan Bopanna is not done yet. In fact, he is now atop a peak hitherto unscaled at his age. Bopanna is set to become the oldest-ever world number one in men's doubles tennis after him and his partner Matthew Ebden advanced to the Australian Open 2024 semi-finals, beating the Argentinian pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the last-eight stage. (More Tennis News)
Bopanna and Ebden won in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to book a place in the penultimate round of the season-opening Grand Slam. The Indo-Australian duo will next face the Czech-Chinese combine of Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang for a place in the final.
With the quarter-finals victory, Bopanna is assured of the top spot in the ATP rankings that will be released on Monday, January 29, 2024. He will displace the United States of America's Austin Krajicek from the numero uno throne.
Bopanna's age-defying feat will admit him into the elite club of Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza - the three other Indians to have been world number one in doubles. Like his trailblazing compatriots, Bopanna tooo has a series of firsts to his name.
At 43, Bopanna became the oldest tennis player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title when he was trimphant at the Indian Wells last year, alongside Ebden. He also finished runners-up at the US Open 2023 alongwith Ebden, making Bopanna the oldest-ever Grand Slam finalist in the Open era.
