43-year-old Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest World No.1 doubles player after remarkable run to Australian Open semifinals

Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna has created history at the age of 43. He has become the oldest player to become world number 1. Bopanna achieved this feat by reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open men's doubles for the first time with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden on Wednesday. Bopanna-Ebden pair defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the quarterfinals.

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The Indo-Australian pair defeated the Argentinian pair 6-4,7-6 (5) that lasted one hour and 46 minutes. Now in the semi-finals, the pair will face Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang.

Rohan Bopanna breaks Rajeev Ram's record

Indian tennis star created a new record by defeating America's Rajeev Ram. Ram reached the top of the rankings in October 2022 at the age of 38, leaving behind fellow Great Britain Joe Salisbury. Thus, Rohan Bopanna has also become the fourth Indian after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza to achieve world number one rank in doubles.

Rohan Bopanna was the US Open runner-up in men's doubles twice

Earlier, Rohan Bopanna had won the mixed doubles title at the French Open in 2017 with Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski. But in men's doubles at Grand Slams, he came close to achieving it twice, before missing out by narrow margins. He was runner-up at the US Open with Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in 2010 and with Ebden last year Where he became the oldest ever Grand Slam finalist.

Rohan Bopanna is the oldest player to win Masters 1000 tournament

Notably, Bopanna is the oldest player to win the men's doubles title at a Masters-1000 event. He achieved this feat in 2023 at the age of 43, when he along with Ebden won the prestigious Indian Wells tournament.

Rohan Bopanna reaches all the semi-finals of Grand Slam

This victory of Bopanna has completed his record of reaching at least the semi-finals in all Grand Slams. After losing in four quarterfinals in 2011, 2016, 2018, and 2021, Bopanna reached the French Open semi-finals with Matwé Middelkoop in 2022. At Wimbledon, he reached the semi-finals three times in 2013, 2015 and 2023. At the same time, he has reached the finals in the US Open twice (2010 and 2023). Bopanna has not been able to win a Grand Slam in doubles till now.

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Bopanna can make this record too

This great Indian player is now two wins away from his first Grand Slam trophy in men's doubles. If Bopanna wins the title, he will become the oldest player to become a Grand Slam men's doubles champion.