Bopanna: Long-playing record

Compared to other Indian doubles specialists, Bopanna isn't a front-runner, but he may be the last Indian tennis champion for some time to come

For tennis fans, the headlines of the opening Grand Slam event of 2024 was that Novak Djokovic did not win the title. All Indians, though, had a reason to celebrate when 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna clinched the doubles with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden, becoming the oldest man to win a Grand Slam doubles title. Two matches before that, the amiable Coorgi became the oldest world number one in doubles after winning his quarterfinal.

Compared with other Indian doubles specialists, Bopanna isn’t a front-runner: He has two Grand Slams to his name  — the first being the mixed doubles French Open title in 2017. Those honours go to Leander Paes with 18 Grand Slam titles. Next comes Mahesh Bhupathi, his one-time partner, with 12, being the first Indian tennis player to win a Grand Slam — the 1997 French Open mixed doubles. Sania Mirza comes third, with six Grand Slam titles; she is the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam tournament.

But Bopanna’s achievement at Melbourne Park glitters not just because of his age but the fact that he had suffered a crisis of confidence four years ago, following serial defeats and injury problems. Luckily his wife and his coach talked him out of retiring. Then in late 2022, a severe knee injury forced him out of a Davis Cup tie. Knee injuries can be career-threatening for doubles players, depriving them of the explosive power to lunge from a squat position to cut off an opponent’s return at the net.

Yet in March 2023, 20 years after he turned professional, Bopanna and Ebden won the Indian Wells Masters 1000 title. With that Bopanna became the oldest player to win the doubles title in the tournament — that too with a 35-year-old partner.

It isn’t just age that makes Bopanna an unlikely champion. He doesn’t even look like one, with flecks of grey clearly visible on his head and a burly, non-athletic physique. The ATP website lists his height at 6’4’’ and weight as 84 kg, so he’s not overweight by any measure. Yet he’s six kg lighter than the lithe Stefanos Tsitsipas who is the same height but tips the scale at 90 kg.

Unlike the mercurial 25-year-old Greek or most others, Bopanna doesn’t hit the gym — his knee problem precludes that. Instead, he relies on yoga to keep him fit. He also forced himself to bridge a huge mental gap. As he described it in an interview to  Firstpost, if he served and his partner missed the return volley, he used to blame his partner. If that happens now, he wonders if his serve wasn’t good enough. This from a player for whom a booming serve and forehand were his principal assets.

Sadly, in the context of the global tennis hoopla, Bopanna’s achievement will remain a footnote. That’s because the doubles’ game, although far more watchable, has lost its glamour to the romance of the singles variant.Today’s game is now split between doubles and singles specialists. There’s a vague mistaken notion that doubles is somehow easier because there are two people on one side of a court that is 2 metres wider. Though it is true that the doubles game requires less running, the game demands a high level of skills and reflexes, especially at the net, that are vital for singles players too.

That is why yesteryear’s great entertainers — Borg, Connors, McEnroe, Navratilova, Graf — also competed in doubles in key tournaments. Serena and Venus Williams won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. Both Nadal and Federer played doubles in their heyday, winning 11 and eight titles respectively (no Grand Slams). The clinical Djokovic, in his pursuit of a singles record, has played fewer doubles matches, winning just one title in 2010.

Bopanna may be the last Indian tennis champion for some time to come. For months, he’s been the only Indian player competing in top tournaments. The Indian player who comes nearest to making the news is Sumit Nagal, for taking a set off Federer in the 2019 US Open and for progressing past the first round of the 2024 Australian Open. That says a lot for the state of Indian tennis today.