Defying all odds, Rohan Bopanna set to become the oldest World No.1 in men’s doubles history as he makes it to the semifinals of the Australian Open

This is the first time that Rohan Bopanna has made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Defying all odds, Rohan Bopanna set to become the oldest World No.1 in men’s doubles history as he makes it to the semifinals of the Australian Open

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden with the 2023 Indian Wells Masters trophy

Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna is set to become the No. 1 ranked player in the men’s doubles rankings after his sensational win in the quarterfinal of the 2024 Australian Open men’s doubles event alongside his teammate Matthew Ebden.

Thanks to this victory, when the rankings are updated, Bopanna will become the oldest player ever at 43 years of age to become World No. 1. 

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Rohan Bopanna has taken the world of mixed doubles by storm recently. He made his debut about 20 years ago and this is his 17th time playing in the Australian Open.

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For the first time ever, after so many years, the Indian finally made it into the semi-final of the tournament. Earlier, he and his teammate Matthew Ebden also made it to the final of the 2023 US Open, where they lost to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. 

Since then, they have also reached the finals of the 2023 Shanghai Open and the semi-finals of the 2023 ATP Finals. Bopanna and Ebden are hands-down one of the most elite doubles duos in the world right now and that will reflect in the ATP rankings when they are finally updated. Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will become the top two ranked players in the doubles rankings, respectively. 

Recently, they also participated in the mixed doubles event of the 2024 Adelaide International, which was their first tournament of the year. The confidence that they gained there definitely helped the duo in the Australian Open. Bopanna and Ebden need just two more victories to win their maiden Grand Slam title. 

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden are set to face Zhizhen Zhang and Tomas Machac in the semi-finals

Talking about their match against the Argentine duo of Máximo González and Andrés Molteni, Bopanna and Ebden had no difficulty at all beating them 6-4, 7-6(5) in straight sets.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden (Source: Imago)

In fact, they have won all of their matches in the tournament so far in straight sets and that shows the kind of dominance that they have in the men’s doubles division right now. 

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will now face the duo of Zhizhen Zhang and Tomas Machac, who are from China and the Czech Republic, respectively.

Zhang and Machac do not usually play much doubles tennis. Zhang has a doubles ranking of 625, while Machac does not even have an active doubles ranking. However, they have played decently well in the tournament so far. This makes the team of Rohan Bopanna the immediate favorites to win this match. 

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