Sharada Iyer, Tennis With An Accent
Sumit Nagal began the 2024 Australian Open on a promising note for India when he ousted 31st seed Sascha Bublik in the first round. The veteran Rohan Bopanna picked up pace for Indian tennis thereafter.
The 43-year-old reached a personal milestone by becoming the World No. 1 in doubles in a career-first. For the sport, this was also a first-time occurrence: Bopanna is now the oldest man to climb this high, in what has been a maiden effort. To top this off, Bopanna closed out the event with a new professional high, winning his first-ever major title in men’s doubles, alongside Australian Matt Ebden.
It took him “only” 21 years from the year he turned pro to get to this point.
The passing years, however, aren’t the biggest indicator of Bopanna’s doggedness to keep going, one day after another, for over two decades. The innumerable struggles and the assortment of defeats he has endured along the way are powerful testaments to his resoluteness and self-belief.
After ascending to the top of the doubles’ rankings, Bopanna didn’t shy away from admitting, “For me to get to World No. 1, I think [is thanks to] my perseverance to the sport, to stay in it and to keep fighting and to keep working hard and have such a great partner by my side. I think the consistent year we had last year is why this helped me get to this stage.”
The Australian Open bears witness to these traits. Before his winning run Down Under, Bopanna’s best result in men’s doubles at the major was the third round.
He reached that stage of the tournament on six separate occasions, including his debut there in the men’s doubles draw in 2008. At that time, Bopanna had partnered another veteran name on the Tour, Rajeev Ram. The next five years he made the third round multiple partners. He couldn’t crack the code in Melbourne. He had several successes in the other events – including majors – he contested. Weirdly, the Australian Open kept giving him the slip. In fact, when Ebden and Bopanna teamed up to play the event in 2023, they exited the tournament in the first round.
That his first doubles major championship should come at this venue is only fitting. It’s as if tennis karma was acknowledging the steepness of Bopanna’s climb and its continuous arduousness. Bopanna’s words summarise the emotiveness of this supreme glory:
“It’s incredible no matter where you make it, but it’s even more special in a Grand Slam and I’m extremely proud to have done it in a Grand Slam which all of us players love. I’m really happy I could achieve it here in Melbourne.”
At the end, then, the Happy Slam made Rohan Bopanna and the nation rallying behind him gloriously happy.
Tennis with an Accent 