Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest world number 1 in tennis aged 43

The remarkable feat comes after Bopanna/ Ebden duo reached the semifinals of the Australian Open

Rohan Bopanna has achieved a remarkable feat by becoming the oldest player to reach the No. 1 spot in the ATP men’s doubles rankings, following his semi-final run at the Australian Open 2024 with partner Matthew Ebden.

The 43-year-old Indian veteran, who has been playing professional tennis since 2003, surpassed Rajeev Ram of the USA, who was 38 when he became No. 1 for the first time in 2022. Bopanna will officially take over the top spot when the new rankings are released on January 29 (Monday).

Bopanna and Ebden, the No. 2 seeds, defeated the No. 6 seeds Máximo González and Andrés Molteni of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, after overcoming a brief delay due to bubbles on the court caused by overnight rain. They will face Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang of China in the semifinals on Friday.

Rohan Bopanna has accomplished many impressive feats in the past two years. He was the oldest man to clinch an ATP Masters 1000 trophy at Indian Wells last year. He also made history as the oldest man to play in a Grand slam final at the 2023 US Open.

Meet our own history Maker @rohanbopanna. 😍43-year-old Bopanna surpasses the record of American doubles specialist Rajeev Ram to become the oldest player to reach the ATP's No. 1 mark in men's doubles.#RohanBopanna #tennis #AustralianOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/lZyhicipWN

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) January 24, 2024

This is the first time that Bopanna has reached the last four of the Australian Open, the only Grand Slam where he had not made it past the third round before. He has previously reached the finals of the US Open in 2010 and 2023, the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2013, 2015, and 2023, and the French Open in 2022.

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Bopanna, who won his first Grand Slam title in mixed doubles at the 2017 French Open with Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, has also become the fourth Indian player to achieve the No. 1 ranking in doubles, after Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes, and Sania Mirza.

Bopanna, who will celebrate his 44th birthday in March, has a chance to make history by becoming the most senior player ever to clinch a men’s doubles Grand Slam trophy.

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