Rohan Machanda Bopanna is an Indian professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He attained the world No. 1 ranking after winning his first major doubles title at the 2024 Australian Open with Matthew Ebden, becoming the oldest first-time No. 1 at the age of 43.
Born: 4 March 1980 (age 43 years), Bengaluru
Bopanna has been playing tennis since he was 11. His father is a coffee planter and his mother is a housewife.
Bopanna had a partnership with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan for several years, with the pair known as the IndoPak Express. They were runners-up at the 2010 US Open. Bopanna was a finalist at the ATP World Tour Finals in 2012 and 2015 with different partners. He has won two major titles in doubles at the 2017 French Open mixed doubles alongside Gabriela Dabrowski (becoming the fourth Indian major winner after Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza) and the 2024 Australian Open, becoming the oldest major winner in the Open Era in the latter. Bopanna also reached major finals at the 2018 and 2023 Australian Opens in mixed doubles; and in the 2023 US Open men's doubles.Bopanna has also won 24 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, including five at the Masters 1000 level, with a title at the 2023 Indian Wells Masters making him the oldest Masters winner.
Bopanna started the season at Tata Open where he entered the main draw as a wildcard but he lost in 1st round to Željko Krajan in straight sets. Bopanna was selected for Davis Cup tie against Japan. Bopanna defeated Jun Kato 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4 in one hour 54 minutes for his first win in Davis Cup. India defeated Japan 4-1 in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie.[12] In the next tie against New Zealand, Bopanna went down to Alistair Hunt in a gruelling five setter. But he won his next singles match against James Shortall in straight sets as India won the tie 4-1 to qualify for world group play-offs.
He won the Denver Challenger with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi where they were the top seeds. This was his first ATP Challenger Series title(now known as ATP Challenger Tour). Before Denver they have reached the semi-finals of Manchester Trophy. He then won Indonesia F1 Futures title where he defeated Febi Wediyanto in the final.
In the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Netherlands, Bopanna lost his singles match against Martin Verkerk. In the important doubles match, he and Mahesh Bhupathi lost to John van Lottum and Martin Verkerk. India were clean sweep 5-0 by Holland in the tie.
Bopanna won 2 gold medals at Afro-Asian Games. In the doubles, he partnered Mahesh Bhupathi where they defeated Adelo Abadia and Johnny Arcilla of Philippines in semi-finals in straight sets. Then, compatriots Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya and Vinod Sridhar 6-4,3-6,6-2 in the gold medal match. In the team event, Bopanna put India on 1-0 lead in the gold medal tie with a run-away 6-2 6-2 win over Rotimi Jegede before Prakash Amritraj overcame Sunday Maku, the top ranked Nigerian, to carve out a 6-4 6-1 victory. In the doubles match, Vijay Kannan and Vishal Uppal blew away Balalola Abdul and Maku 6-1 6-4 as India defeated Nigeria 3-0 in the gold medal match.
Bopanna was out for 8 weeks due to a bicep injury which made him miss 2004 Chennai Open and Davis Cup tie against New Zealand. He started off the season at India F1A Futures where he lost to Alexey Kedryuk in straight sets and in doubles he was 3rd seed with Vijay Kannan but they lost to Rupesh Roy and Divij Sharan. He won the Kuwait F1 Futures tournament with Mustafa Ghouse. In singles, he reached semifinals where he lost to the top seed and eventual winner Filip Prpic in straight sets. Before an early end to the season he lastly played at São Paulo Challenger 2 where qualified for main draw after beating Brazilians Alexandre Bonatto, Frederico Casaro and Eduardo Bohrer respectively in straight sets. He again defeated a Brazilian Marcos Daniel in 1st round but he retired in 2nd round match after losing the first set 4–6. In doubles he had a first round exit with Mustafa Ghouse.
Bopanna was then out for almost 9 months due to a career threatening shoulder injury for which he had necessitated a surgery. He made his return at India F3 Futures where he was ousted in first round by Chris Kwon in straight sets. In the doubles he was fourth seed with Vijay Kannan where lost in the quarterfinals. But he won India F4 Futures with Vijay. His impressive show in the US $10,000 ITF Sri Lanka F1 Futures ended in anti-climax as he lost in the singles final in straight sets to German Peter Mayer-Tischer 7–6(2), 6–2 to finish runner-up in the clay court event. He then lost to Florin Mergea in straight sets of Kuwait F1 Futures. His disappointment was compoundeded by his loss in the doubles final. In an all-Indian final, he paired with Vijay Kannan but they went down 3–6, 4–6 to Vishal Uppal and Ashutosh Singh.
In the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Sweden, he lost his singles match against Thomas Johansson in straight sets. India lost the tie 3-1. The non-playing captain Mats Wilander later reported that Bopanna twisted his left ankle while going for a return of serve, resulting in a torn tendon and would be out of action for three weeks.[19] He reached the finals of Bukhara Challenger with Kyu-Tae Im, he also reached semi-finals in singles where he lost to eventual champion and 3rd seed Denis Istomin in straight sets. He lost to Bart Beks in straight sets at Seoul Challenger. In the doubles he partnered Korean Kyu-Tae Im where they lost to eventual winners Alexander Peya and Bjorn Phau. He lost in the semi-finals of Australia F10 and F11 Futures both times to Australian Luke Bourgeois. In the doubles he was 2nd seed in both tournaments with Romanian Horia Tecau they lost in the final to Australian pair of Carsten Ball and Andrew Coelho in an intense final and in the quarterfinals of the latter one in straight sets. He ended the year at India F7 Futures losing to his occasional partner and eventual winner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
The 2006 season was statistically a rising season of Bopanna's career. He started the season by qualifying for main draw of Chennai Open by defeating Marcin Matkowski, Danai Udomchoke and Rajeev Ram in straight sets respectively. He then defeated Cyril Saulnier in first round of main draw in straight sets. But lost to fifth seeded Gilles Müller in straight sets. He entered doubles as a wildcard with Prakash Amritraj where they upset 3rd seeds Yves Allegro and Michael Kohlmann in straight sets in first round, received bye in second round and then upset 2nd seeds Rainer Schüttler and Alexander Waske in semi-finals. But lost to Michal Mertiňák and Petr Pála in straight sets. This was his first ever ATP Tour final. He then made his Grand Slam at 2006 Australian Open where he participated in only men's singles event that too in qualifying round. He defeated Yohny Romero in straight sets in the first round. This was his first ever Grand slam match and first ever win at any grand slam. But his run ended in the second round where he lost to Jean-Christophe Faurel 4-6,6-1,3-6.
In the Davis cup tie against South Korea, he lost his first singles match to Chung Hee-seok after a valiant fight. But he also lost his reverse singles match in straight sets to Lee Hyung-taik. India lost to South Korea 4-1. He then had first round exit at Australian F1 Futures losing to Andrew Coelho and reached Quarter-finals with Luke Bourgeois where they lost in a close match. At the Kyoto Challenger, he defeated Phillip King in straight sets but lost to Prakash Amritraj in straight sets in second round. In doubles, he lost in the finals with Prakash to Jonathan Murray and Alun Jones in a high thrilling match. He and Prakash then were 2nd seeds at Ho Chi Minh City Challenger where they lost in the semi-finals to Dudi Sela and Jacob Adaktusson in straight sets and in the singles he lost in first round to Nicolas Devilder in straight sets. He again had a first round exit at UAE F1 Futures and in doubles he had to give walkover in first round as his partner Prakash was injured.
In davis cup tie against Pakistan he lost to his occasional partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in straight sets. But wins of Prakash Amritraj, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi secured the victory for India 3-2 against Pakistan. He then had 2 consecutive 2nd round exits at Chikmagalur and Dharwad Challenger losing to Toshihide Matsui and Viktor Troicki in straight sets. Almost the same scenario followed in doubles where ge had 3 consecutive Quarter-finals at Chikmagalur, Dharwad and Fergana Challenger. He had lost to Dawid Olejniczak in straight sets of Fergana Challenger. He lost to Dawid Olejniczak in straight sets. He lost to Michael Lammer in straight sets in first qualifying round of French Open. This was his maiden French Open appearance. He had first round exits at Surbiton Trophy in both singles and doubles with Nathan Healey. He qualified for main draw of Halle Open by beating Evgeny Korolev, Simone Bolelli and Kristian Pless. He faced that time world no.1 Roger Federer in first round of main draw. It was his first ever match against Federer. He lost in straight sets 7-6(7-4),6-2. Federer went on to win the title. This remains his only match against any member of Big Three.
He then entered Wimbledon where in men's singles qualifying round he defeated Tomáš Cakl in straight sets in first round but lost to Robert Kendrick in straight sets in second round. He partnered Johan Landsberg in men's doubles qualifying round but they lost in first round to Irakli Labadze and Dušan Vemić. He lost to Rajeev Ram in first round of Aptos Challenger but he took his revenge by defeating Ram and Todd Widom in doubles final with Prakash Amritraj in a hard-fought match. He had Quarter-finals exits in both singles and doubles with Prakash at Challenger de Granby. He qualified for main draw of Bukhara Challenger and went on to reach the final where he lost to Janko Tipsarević in straight sets, he also reached the finals of doubles with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi where they lost in tie-breaker. He entered main draw of Mumbai Open as a wildcard and lost to 8th seeded Wesley Moodie. But he reached doubles event final with Mustafa Ghouse. They upset top seeds and 4th seeds in 1st round and semi-finals respectively to reach the finals, they were defeated by Mahesh Bhupathi and Mario Ančić 6–4, 6–7(6–8), [10–8].
Bopanna won the Asian Hopman Cup with Sania Mirza which was the qualifying event for 2007 Hopman Cup. He was selected after Leander Paes withdrew due to an injury.[25] They defeated Chinese Taipei pair. Sania defeated Hwang I-hsuan 6-2, 6-4. Bopanna defeated Chen Ti 6-3 6-4. In mixed doubles they defeated Hwang/Chan 6-1, 0-0 (retire).[26][27][28] He was selected for 2006 Asian Games.[29] In Singles event he was seeded 8th which gave him a bye to round of 32. But he lost to Sun Peng in straight sets. In Doubles event he was seeded 4th with Mustafa Ghouse and they reached Quarter-finals before bowing out to Koreans Jun Woong-sun and Kim Sun-yong in straight sets. In team event India faced 2nd seeded Chinese Taipei in round of 16. Bopanna won his singles match against Lu Yen-hsun but Karan Rastogi and pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes lost their matches. India lost to Chinese Taipei 2-1. He ended the season at India F3 Futures Tournament. He was top seed in both singles and doubles and managed to reach finals of both events. In singles final he lost to his occasional partner and 4th seeded Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, in doubles final he and Mustafa Ghouse lost to 2nd seeds Wikipedia
