Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest tennis player to win ATP Masters 1000 title

The 43-year-old is also the first Indian since Leander Paes in 2007 to win the PNB Paribas Open.

Rohan Bopanna, 43, made history by becoming the oldest tennis player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. On Saturday, he won the men's doubles title at the Indian Wells Masters 2023 tournament in California with Australian partner Matthew Ebden.

The Indo-Australian pair beat top seeds, Wesley Koolhof of Netherlands and Neil Skupski of United Kingdom, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 in the final to lift the BNP Paribas Open trophy. With the Indian Wells Open win, 43-year-old Bopanna surpassed Daniel Nestor as the oldest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. Nestor had won the Cincinnati Masters in 2015 at the age of 42.

Bopanna and Ebden had defeated defending champions Jack Sock and John Isner in the semi-finals and Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the quarter-finals en route to the title.

Prior to Bopanna, Canadian Daniel Nestor was the oldest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title at the age of 42, when he won the 2015 Cincinnati Masters.

"I spoke to Danny Nestor and I told him sorry, I'm going to beat his record. Winning the title - that stays with me, so really happy with that," Bopanna was quoted saying by The Economics Times.

Bopanna already has 24 ATP titles to his name, which include five ATP Masters 1000 titles. It was the Indian tennis player's second title of the year, following his win at the Qatar Open with Ebden last month.

Rohan Bopanna has 24 tour-level trophies in his cabinet

It was his fifth ATP Masters 1000 doubles title and his first since winning in Monte Carlo in 2017. This was the Indo-Australian duo's third final of the year. Bopanna now has 24 tour-level accolades in his collection.

The Indo-Australian duo defeated the Canadian pair of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. Bopanna-Ebden received a comfortable win in the round of 16 over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov and Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.

In their first match, Bopanna-Ebden emerged victorious against Rafael Matos of Brazil and David Vega Hernandez of Spain, 7-5, 3-6, 10-6. Bopanna, a former World No. 3, climbed four spots to No. 11 in the ATP Doubles Rankings. Before the tournament, he was ranked 15th in the ATP doubles rankings, and the Indian Wells Masters victory propelled him to 11th in the rankings.