Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden were one set behind against M. Granollers and H. Zeballos in the ATP 2023 semifinals on Saturday. They lost 5-7 in the first set and were trailing 2-3 in the second with a break of serve not in their favor. Recently, Bopanna became the oldest player in the history of men’s tennis to win a match at the ATP Finals, doing so at the age of 43. The last oldest player to do so was another top-class doubles player, Canada’s Daniel Nestor.
Rohan Bopanna lost the first match of the tournament with his partner but they bounced back to win the following two. However, in the semifinals, they seemed slightly out of sorts against the sixth seeds. With four double faults, perhaps pressure seemed to be getting to them or it could be the packed and demanding schedule of the year-ending competition.
Regardless, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will take heart from the fact that in recent weeks, they bounced back in two of their matches after being one set down at the Paris Masters 2023. Additionally, Bopanna and Ebden had beaten Granollers and Zeballos in the quarterfinals of the same tournament.
However, Rohan Bopanna has also lost to the duo with Ebden in the Shanghai Masters and at the Canadian Open knockout matches in 2023, making Granollers and Zeballos their bogey opponents of some sort.
Rohan Bopanna creates history in 2023
Regardless of the result of this match, Bopanna will end the year in style. Bopanna also became the oldest man ever to win an ATP 1000 Masters title, having won the men’s doubles championship at Indian Wells earlier this year. The Indian tennis star has captured the minds of many fans, having also recently made it to the finals of the US Open 2023, where he fell agonisingly short of Grand Slam glory, which he achieved famously in 2017 at Roland Garros.
During one of the points he played out, Rohan Bopanna was lauded for his sportsmanship as he corrected the chair umpire for giving him and his partner wrongly a point against the eventual champions. Rohan Bopanna is based out of the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru and is likely to play more of men’s and mixed doubles tournaments in the future.
