3 of Rohan Bopanna’s most memorable victories from his 500+ career wins

Rohan Bopanna, one of India’s tennis legends, recently achieved a major milestone by crossing 500 career wins at the Australian Open 2024. The 43-year-old from Bangalore has racked up some historic wins, broken some longstanding records and played some incredible matches in a career that spans over two glorious decades and is still going strong.

As Bopanna continues to defy age and expectations, let's look back at three of his most memorable victories:

#3. First Grand Slam Win: Roland Garros 2017

One of Rohan Bopanna's defining moments came at the 2017 Roland Garros Championships, where he secured his first and only Grand Slam title in the mixed doubles category.

Before his win at the French Open, Bopanna’s best performance at a Grand Slam was way back in 2010. At the US Open that year, he and his partner, Aisam-ul-Haq-Qureshi, went down to the legendary Bryan brothers—Bob and Mike.

The 2017 French Open witnessed a thrilling battle between the unseeded pair of Anna-Lena Gronefeld and Robert Farah and Bopanna and his Canadian partner, Gabriela Dabrowski.

After dropping the opening set 2-6, Bopanna and Dabrowski found themselves in a difficult position. But the Indo-Canadian pair displayed resilience and fought back to take the second set. The third set was a nail-biting affair, which saw Bopanna and Dabrowski save two match points in the tiebreaker before securing the title 2-6, 6-2, [12-10].

This victory not only marked a personal milestone for Bopanna but also made him only the fourth Indian after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza to clinch a Grand Slam trophy. Bopanna has not won a Grand Slam since but has come agonizingly close on several occasions.

#2. Oldest Winner of an ATP Masters 1000: Indian Wells Masters 2023

In 2023, Rohan Bopanna made history by becoming the oldest tennis player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. Pairing up with Australia’s Matthew Ebden, Bopanna, at the age of 43, clinched the men's doubles crown at the Indian Wells Masters in California.

In the final of the Indian Wells Masters, Bopannna and Ebden defeated the top-seeded pair of Wesley Koolhof and Neil Skupski in a hard-fought encounter. They won the match in a third-set tiebreaker, with the final score being 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.

Bopanna's triumph at Indian Wells saw him set a new record for the oldest winner of an ATP Masters 1000, surpassing Canadian Daniel Nestor. Shortly after, the Indian tennis player also became the oldest player to be ranked in the top five and then the top three in the world.

With this victory, Rohan Bopanna now has five ATP Masters 1000 titles in his cabinet.

#1. First ATP Masters 1000 title: Paris Masters 2011

A landmark moment in Rohan Bopanna's career came in 2011 when he and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, claimed the prestigious Paris Masters title. The Indo-Pak Express, as they were fondly known, had already won several ATP titles. But, their victory in Paris marked Bopanna's first-ever title victory at the Masters 1000 level.

Bopanna and Qureshi, who were seeded seventh, defeated Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in straight sets in the final of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament. This victory at the Paris Masters remains a significant milestone in Bopanna's career.