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 ꦛ- 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.
