Following his victory with Matthew Ebden in the Australian Open, Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna rose to the top of the doubles rankings for the first time on Monday, according to the ATP’s most recent doubles standings. Bopanna, who turned 43 this year, is the oldest player to ever rank as the World No. 1 and the third Indian to do so (after two-time champion Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes).
“India needed this. We don’t really have many tennis players coming up,” said Bopanna further quoted by ATP. “Sport is slowly coming up. I think it’s just going to inspire a lot of people. I don’t think just in tennis. People all over the world, being 40 and above, I think it’s just going to inspire them in a different way,” he further added.
In the opening major of the season, he tied for third, a position he had held in 2013. Despite obstacles along the way, Bopanna and Ebden defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the quarterfinals to guarantee the Indian’s rise to the top of the world rankings.
“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,” Bopanna added.
“In hindsight, it would have been amazing if we would have played for a long period of time, but still, we are enjoying where we are today, and I think there are no real complaints on that. You grow as a team. I think we have also learned from each other, what works for us, what our strengths are, and how we can improve,” the player stated.
Bopanna and Ebden are tied for the most ATP Doubles Rankings points, but Bopanna’s advantage stems from having participated in three less tournaments.
“It was a big goal of ours when we started this partnership over a year ago and we talked about it. We made our intentions clear, ‘I want to get to World No. 1, win the Slams, the big tournaments.’ We have ticked a lot of boxes the last year and this is another one of those. A huge milestone. It’s an incredible thing for Bops, especially at his age,” Ebden averred.
