Indian tennis great Rohan Bopanna on Monday announced that his loss in the first round of the men's doubles tennis competition at the Paris Olympics was the last time he had represented the country. (Olympics Full Coverage | More Sports Stories)
"This will definitely go down as my last event for the country. I totally understand where I am and now, I am just going to be enjoying the tennis circuit as long as that goes," the 44-year-old said.
"This is already a big bonus for where I am. I never even thought that I'll be representing India for two decades. Right from 2002, making my debut and 22 years later still getting to represent India. I'm extremely proud of that,” the tennis legend added.
Bopanna took India the closest to their first Olympic medal in tennis since Leander Paes' bronze in Atlanta in 1996. Bopanna alongside Sania Mirza finished fourth in the mixed doubles event at the 2016 Rio Games.
Bopanna's announcement means he will not be a part of India's tennis squad for the 2026 Asian Games scheduled to take place in Aichi-Nagoya .
Bopanna also shared his best moment in national colours, putting his fifth-rubber win against Ricardo Mello in the Davis Cup tie against Brazil in 2010 at the top.
"That is definitely the one in Davis Cup history. That is by far my best moment, no question that that one in Chennai and then winning that five-setter doubles in Bangalore against Serbia."
"Playing with Lee, with Hesh as a captain. At that time, it was the best team atmosphere, team camaraderie. we had with Somdev (Devverman) and me playing singles and all of us going and fighting it out, it was incredible."
Talking about the loss on Sunday in Paris, Bopanna said Monfils' presence across the court made a huge difference. Monfils had replaced Fabien Reboul at the last minute for the French team in the men's doubles tie.
"This guy Monfils told me that it was the best doubles match that he has played. He also was seeing the ball after playing that singles match (earlier). He was hitting the ball extremely heavy. They served at an extremely high percentage even the despite that we still had our chances," Bopanna said.
