Bopanna becomes the oldest major winner when he and Ebden win the men’s doubles title.
Along with Australian Matthew Ebden, Rohan Bopanna of India made history on Saturday by being the oldest man in the Open Era to win a major men’s doubles championship. They won the Australian Open together.
At Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, the 43-year-old Bopanna and Ebden defeated Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6(0), 7-5, to secure the title.
Bopanna, who just became the oldest World No. 1 in men’s doubles history and was given the Padma Shri by the Indian government, accomplished his goal of winning the first-ever Grand Slam men’s doubles championship.
During the one-hour, forty-minute match, Bopanna and Ebden dominated on service, winning 80% (40/50) of the points behind their first delivery and avoiding a break point to finish off an incredible week.
At the pivotal moments, Bopanna—who had just won his maiden Grand Slam title—and Ebden played their best tennis. Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski won the mixed doubles title at the 2017 French Open. In the first set tie-break, they used their depth to their advantage to go ahead before winning the second set’s pivotal break in the eleventh game. At the hard-court major, the two second seeds, Bopanna and Ebden, prevailed in all seven tie-breaks they faced.
After reaching match point, the Indian-Australian team bucked chests, a gesture that is linked to American greats Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan as well as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, before they went to the ground. Then Bopanna and Ebden got back up to take in the cheers from the audience.
Having lost in the US Open finals in 2010 and 2023, this is the first major men’s doubles trophy that Bopanna has ever won. The 43-year-old, along with Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, is the third Indian man in the Open Era to win a major men’s doubles championship. On Monday, he will also break the record for the oldest No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings.
Ebden, 36, and Max Purcell won Wimbledon in 2022, giving them two major men’s doubles championships to their credit. He is the 28th Australian male champion in the men’s doubles division of the Australian Open.
Bopanna joined the elite group of tennis players who were also given the esteemed Padma Shri Award on Thursday. Bopanna is the fourth Indian player to win a Grand Slam championship overall, behind Paes, Bhupathi, and Mirza.
Bopanna was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, on March 4, 1980. His parents, M. G. Bopanna, a coffee planter in the Kodagu area, and Malika Bopanna, a housewife, encouraged him to play tennis starting at age 11.
Even though he also liked playing football and hockey, tennis became young Rohan’s passion by the time he was 19 years old. At the age of 17, he won his first ITF Junior singles title in 1997. Bopanna became a professional in 2003 after accumulating experience in junior and senior ITF doubles and singles.
