Australian Open: Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest man to win Grand Slam

Rohan Bopanna etched his name in the books of history after becoming the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title. 

At the age of 43, Bopanna won the men’s doubles title along with Australia's Matthew Ebden after beating the Italian pair of Simone Boleli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6 (7-0), 7-5 on Saturday, January 27 at the Rod Laver Arena.

Bopanna broke the record of Jean-Julien Rojer, who won the French Open men’s doubles title alongside Marcelo Arevola at the age of 40 years and 270 days. It also happened to be the second time that an Indian won the men’s doubles title at Melbourne Park, after Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek came up trumps back in 2012.

Bopanna also won his second Grand Slam title after the 2017 French Open when he partnered Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles.

The first set went right down to the wire. Both the India-Australian pair and the Italian pair held their serves to take the set into a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, Bopanna and Ebden pulled off their A-game and dictated terms to Boleli and Vavassori.

It seemed that the second set was also going into a tie-breaker with the scoreline at 5-5. But then, Bopanna and Ebden earned a break of serve to drill the final nail in the coffin.

Last year, Bopanna played in the mixed doubles final along with Sania Mirza, but finished as the runners-up. In the final of the US Open 2023, Bopanna and Ebden lost to the American pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

However, Bopanna turned his fortunes around in the Melbourne Park on Saturday. Earlier, Bopanna became the oldest to become World No.1 in doubles after he won the quarterfinal. Then, he won the Padma Shri among the 7 who was bestowed with the prestigious award in sports.