A look at achievements of oldest major champion Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Bopanna scripted history after winning the 2024 Australian Open men's doubles title along with his partner Matthew Ebden. This was the Indian tennis star's maiden Grand Slam title in men's doubles and his second major crown overall. Bopanna-Ebden defeated the Italian pairing of Simone Bolleli and Andrea Vavasorri 7-6(0), 7-5 in the title clash. Bopanna became the oldest-ever Grand Slam champion.
Oldest Grand Slam winner in Open Era
At 43, Bopanna is now the oldest Grand Slam winner in the Open Era. This was his maiden men's doubles title and a second Slam honor overall. He won the French Open in 2017 in mixed doubles with Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski. He also became the third Indian to win a Grand Slam title in men's doubles after Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
Oldest world number one in men's doubles category
Courtesy of Bopanna and Ebden's win in the 2024 Australian Open quarter-final, the Indian tennis ace attained the top spot in the men's doubles rankings. Bopanna also became the oldest world number in the men's doubles category at the age of 43. He broke the previous record held by Mike Bryan (41 years and 76 days) in 2019.
Fourth Indian to become world number one
Bopanna became only the fourth Indian tennis player to be crowned as the world number one. He joins the elite list which includes legends like Paes, Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza.
Fourth Indian to win the Australian Open crown
Bopanna became the fourth Indian to win the Australian Open crown in doubles. Paes has won the title four times, thrice in mixed doubles, and once in men's doubles. Bhupathi won it twice, both times in mixed doubles. He won the 2009 Australian Open title with Sania. Meanwhile, Sania lifted the Australian Open twice, one each in women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Records galore for Bopanna
When Bopanna and Ebden claimed the men's doubles title at Indian Wells last year, the Indian became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion in the tournament's history. Later, when they won against the Australian pairing of Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler in the ATP finals last year, Bopanna became the oldest man to win a match in the competition.
Five ATP Masters 1000 titles, eight runners-up finishes
Bopanna has won five ATP Masters 1000 titles. He has also finished with eight runners-up trophies. His first ATP title came in 2011 when he won the Paris Masters along with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. He went on to win crowns in Paris (2012) with Bhupathi, Madrid (2015) with Florin Mergea, Monte Carlo (2017) with Pablo Cuevas, and Indian Wells (2023) with current partner Ebden.
Two gold medals in the Asian Games
Bopanna, along with his partner Rutuja Bhosale, won the 2023 Asian Games gold medal by beating Chinese Taipei's Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang, 2-6, 6-3, 10-4. Bopanna won his first Asian Games gold medal in the men's doubles category in 2018 Jakarta along with his compatriot Divij Sharan. They defeated the Kazakhstan pairing Alexander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
His run in the 2016 Olympics
The 43-year-old missed out on an Olympic medal by a whisker in 2016 when he and his partner Mirza lost out in the mixed doubles semi-finals and finished fourth. They were beaten by USA's Rajeev Ram and Venus Williams 6-2, 2-6, 3-10.
