Rohan Bopanna, 43, became the oldest men's tennis Grand Slam champion in the Open era after the Indian, along with partner Matthew Ebden won the 2024 Australian Open men's doubles title. The Indo-Australian pair defeated Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori by a 7-6(0), 7-5 scoreline to lift the title.
This is Bopanna's first men's doubles Grand Slam title, and his second Grand Slam title overall, having won the 2017 French Open mixed doubles title. It's been a terrific week for Bopanna who also will become the world no.1 men's doubles player on Monday.
Despite the straight sets victory, Bopanna-Ebden were pushed all the way throughout the match. Boselli-Vavassori did well to hold their serve as both Bopanna and Ebden continued their super serving form, thus resulting in a tie-breaker in the first set. Bopanna-Ebden had a perfect record in tie-breakers in this tournament, and played out a perfect 7-0 tiebreak to take the first set.
The trend of holding serve continued into 5-5 in the second set too, right until Ebden forced a break with some clever net play. The Australian served for the title and in a tense final game, it was Bopanna's experience that proved telling, a clever interception at the net making it 40-15, after which he smashed a looped return to win the match and the title, thereafter collapsing in celebration.
Doubles delight ����@rohanbopanna ���� and @mattebden ���� defeat Italian duo Bolelli/Vavassori ���� 7-6(0) 7-5. @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/WaR2KXF9kp
- #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2024
Ebden:
"What an amazing tournament. Thanks to my partner, Rohan. He's 43 years old. This is his first men's Grand Slam doubles title. Age truly really is not even a number for this guy, he's young at heart. He's a champion, he's a warrior. He's fought hard by my side this whole last year. I'm forever grateful to you and your amazing team, your physio, and your family here. Thank you, mate."
Bopanna:
"As Matt said, you got to know how old I am. I've changed it a little bit. I'm at level 43, not age 43 now. "
"Obviously, this could not have been possible if I didn't have a fantastic Aussie partner by my side. So, thanks to Matty. We've had a fantastic season last year and for me to win my first men's doubles Grand Slam here at the Asia Pacific World Slam... thank you. Thank you to my family, the team...
"Tennis is such a great teacher and there is no better teacher than Scott Davidoff, who has been here with me for, uh, over a decade. Thank you, Scotty. I know it's been a tough, tough journey, but, I'm really glad that you're by my side, and this victory is as much as mine as yours. Thank you, Rebecca, the one who keeps me young, keeps me moving, my physio, thank you so much for making sure I do all the right things every day."
"I have my in-laws here. The last time they came, I actually won my Mixed Doubles title. So I don't know why they're not coming more often. But thank you, thank you. Lastly, my beautiful wife Supriya, my daughter Tridha - thank you for all the support, all the love. A couple years ago I sent her a video message where I said I'm going to call it a day because I was not winning matches at all. And I went five months without winning a match and, I thought that was going to be the end of my journey, but I think that perseverance inside me just kept me going and really changed so many things. And I found a wonderful partner to get me to all the laurels. So thank you guys so much. I love you all."
You can recap how the final between Bopanna-Ebden and Bolelli-Vavassori played out, below: