Rohan Bopanna became the oldest male to win a Grand Slam by lifting the Australian Open men’s doubles title.
The resilience of Rohan Bopanna, the 'Bofors' of Indian tennis who stuck to his guns with help of Iyengar yoga despite no tissues in knees
Rohan Bopanna seems to have harnessed time at “level-43”.
On Saturday, 27 January, he became the oldest male at the age of 43 — he calls it “level-43” — to win a Grand Slam by lifting the Australian Open men’s doubles title along with South Africa-born Australian Matthew Ebden, seven years his junior.
The Grand Slam on the cushion acrylic hard court at Melbourne Park was not the only honour that came Boppanna’s way this past week.
The win also catapulted him to the top of World Number One men’s doubles ranking, which the Association of Tennis Professions (ATP) would release on Monday, 29 January.
Matthew Ebden. (Wikimedia Commons)
The icing on the cake, however, was the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, conferred on him on the country’s 75th Republic Day.
The road to the top of the ATP ranking was not smooth for the athlete from Kodagu, Karnataka. The cartilage of his knees was completely worn out, and yet, he was on fire once he stepped onto the tennis court.
The 6’4”-tall Kodava and his close ones, who spoke to South First, credited Iyengar yoga — apart from his perseverance and on-court technical prowess — for his success.
After winning the 2017 French Open mixed doubles with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, Bopanna did not have a great run.
Considering his stature in the international doubles circuit. the only major achievement was a ticket to the following year’s Australian Open final with Hungarian Tímea Babos.
Bopanna, Iga Swiatek and Balanchandran Mannikanth (Supplied)
But the duo ended up losing the final.
There were times in 2019 and 2020 when Bopanna would wake up with excruciating knee pain. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he pursued Iyengar yoga at the suggestion of a cousin.
“He was home and one of his cousins suggested practising Iyengar yoga. There was a training studio near his house, so he could just walk. So, engaged in training,” Balachandran Mannikath, one of Bopanna’s childhood mentors and a friend, told South First.
“He had not tried it before, but he continued it for the next three to four months, at least, four to five times a week for around an hour,” he said, adding that yoga gave his tennis career a fresh lease of life.
Iyengar yoga, which helped Bopanna strengthen his joints and maintain stability, was founded by BKS Iyengar. It focuses on alignment with the help of props, sequencing, and holding body postures for a longer duration.
Bopanna’s former coach Nandan Bal said the Australian Open winner had not suffered an injury for over six months, a reason for the longevity of his career.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden celebrating their win. (AustralianOpen/X)
“I have never seen him injured. He is not muscular like many others but his style of play is technically so good that he does not get hurt,” Bal, who taught Bopanna the art of holding the racquet between 1994 and 1999, said.
“There is no technical fault, which could result in an injury. It is one of the reasons for his longevity and form as, normally, players around the age of 35 face injury issues, and look forward to hanging up their boots,” he told South First.
While crediting Iyengar yoga for Bopanna’s remarkable fitness and flexibility, Bal asserted that “the choice of the right partner is also something he made in 2023 (referring to Ebden)”.
Bopanna first partnered with the Australian in February 2023 at the ABN Amro Pro in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
For Bopanna, it was a smooth run with Ebden. Apart from clinching the Australian Open, the duo have two more titles under their belts: The 2023 Qatar Open and Indian Wells.
They also made it to the 2023 Wimbledon semi-final and later the US Open final, and were also the runners-up in three other tournaments, including two Masters 1000 events.
At the Indian Wells, Bopanna also became the oldest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title.
Balachandran Manikkath, who is also head coach at the Rohan Bopanna Tennis Academy (RBTA) in Bengaluru, noted that the Kodagu level-43 player did not follow the crowd but pursued his “smart way” of working.
“He doesn’t look forward to training like others, like getting on the treadmill and/or lifting weights. He does things which he feels are good for him. He takes ice baths or gets a relaxing massage from his physio (Belgian Rebecca Van Orshaegen),” Manikkath said.
“With all this, he has been able to play without pain. Even now when he comes to Bengaluru or tour, he makes sure he does yoga,” he said.
Manikkath was a junior coach under Bal at the Ram Batra Tennis Memorial Foundation where Bopanna learnt tennis during his teenage days.
Due to his explosive serve and equally matching groundstroke, Bopanna was nicknamed ‘Bofors’ (the howitzer field gun) and ‘Boom Boom’ at an early stage in his career.
Bopanna and Sania Mirza were looking good against Venus Williams and Rajiv Ram but unfortunately, they lost the semi-finals in the 2016 Rio Olympics. (Facebook)
The fiery serve was visible in the final on Saturday with Bopanna hitting two aces in the match along with a dominating first serve.
In the semi-final match which stretched to a super tie-breaker in the third set, it was Bopanna who finished the match with an aced serve.
Former non-playing Davis Cup captain of India, Shiv Prakash Misra, commended Bopanna’s incredible serve.
“He had an easy flowing motion in his serve, generating a lot of power. One of the best in the games. This is the reason he has been named ‘Bofors’ and ‘Boom Boom’,” Misra, who captained India between 2008 and 2013, told South First.
Bal called Bopanna a “free-hitting bird” who seldom “bothered about score lines”.
“He would always go for his shots, sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t come off, people say, see what this guy is doing; and when it does, they call him brilliant,” he said.
“But it is the same Rohan and it is his playing style — not athletic, but effortless. One of his major qualities is that he never played under pressure. He knew if tennis did not work, he could always go back to his father’s coffee business, or something else,” Bal added.
Manikkath added that Bopanna was not the one who loved chasing the ball, but dictated the game with exceptional court awareness.
“He is a tall guy with a big, deceptive, tremendously accurate serve. So basically he’s not scared to take chances and he can play really big tennis. And doubles is not a game of rallies, you need to know how to win the point. Some of his returns rifle across like a rocket. Due to his knee, he stays on the baseline but he has developed enough quality stroke over the years to back it up,” the coach said.
About Bopanna’s mental prowess, Manikkath cited an example from this year’s Australian Open.
“After the quarters, he became the World No 1. At 43, it would give you a sense of excitement, but Rohan did not get carried away. Instead, he was out there the next day to play the semis. It shows his mental strength.”
In 2023, Bopanna played his final Davis Cup against Morocco in a World Cup-2 clash in Lucknow — 21 years after he debuted in professional tennis.
London Olympics -Mahesh Bhupati, SP Misra and Bopanna. (Supplied)
His first Davis Cup match win came against Japan’s Jun Kato in a decisive reverse single in the Asia-Oceania zonal tie in 2003.
Both Bal and Misra recalled an incident that they cherish the most in Bopanna’s career. It came while he was making a mark in doubles but still featured in singles.
In a match against Brazil, the Indians equalised on the second day after being 2-0 down on day one. Bopanna, ranked above 300, was playing singles against world number 75 Ricardo Mello in the decisive fifth match in the 2010 World Group playoff in Chennai.
“None of us expected him to win but he played exceptionally well and won. I will remember that match for a long time. It was a crucial game for us,” Misra recalled, adding it made India advance to the World Group playoff.
Bal pointed out another remarkable victory ‘Bofors’ had pulled off in his singles career against South Africa in the 2009 World Group playoffs. “He was playing against Rik de Voest and went on to win — to everyone’s surprise,” he said.
However, Manikkath lamented Bopanna and Sania Mirza (winner of six Grand Slam titles in doubles and mixed doubles) missing out on a medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“They were looking good against Venus Williams and Rajiv Ram (American pair) but unfortunately they lost the semi-finals. It was so disappointing for them to miss the bronze medal game the next day,” he said, adding that the pair looked good throughout the Olympics and they should have hit the gold.
Bopanna was born in Karnataka’s Kodagu (previously Coorg), a place famous for producing coffee, military personnel, and hockey players. However, his eye caught tennis after he used to tag along with his father to the local tennis club.
“We had a small club, where played tennis. I used to take him to the tennis court and I started coaching him,” MG Bopanna, Rohan’s father, told South First.
Rohan Bopanna with his family. (Supplied)
The senior Bopanna then got him trained under different coaches in Kodagu and Bengaluru, including Mahesh Bhupati’s father Krishna and once even in the US till he was 10.
“He trained there (in the US) for nearly six weeks and then I brought him back to India. Then he finished his Class 10 in Coorg’s Shanti Bhavan school.”
Around the age of 15, Bopanna’s father enrolled him in the Pune Academy under the tutelage of Bal. “That man changed his life,” exclaimed senior Bopanna, himself a tennis enthusiast.
“I used to play tennis and showed him newspaper clippings of Grand Slams and other tournaments. His favourite player and inspiration are Stefan Edbrg (Swedish multiple times Grand Slam winner), even till date,” MG Bopanna, a coffee planter, recalled.
Once in Pune, Bopanna never looked back. Recalling the earlier days, Manikkath said: “When I first saw him, there were a few players who were a lot better than him. But what helped him get this far was sticking to his guns while other players of his group gave up and took other careers. Rohan believed that he could become a good professional tennis player.”
However, Bopanna’s junior years were anything but extraordinary. His career took off after he lifted his maiden pro circuit title in a $10,000 ITF tournament in New Delhi in 2002.
Apart from running a tennis academy, Bopanna has also kicked off a ‘Doubles Dream of India’ programme in 2022 to keep Indian players in the top 200 ranks in doubles. He supported players by arranging coaches and physios, funded by Pune-based tech firm, KPIT.
For his close ones, Bopanna has been a free spirit, always boisterous and sporting a smile reflecting his “super-attitude” to life.
For them, the tennis veteran finally got his due after living in the shadows of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for years.
“He had earlier received the Arjuna Award and Eklavya Award (instituted by the Karnataka government). But now the Padma Shri, Australian Open and World No 1, all come at the same time,” a proud MG Bopanna said.
He added that his son would like to continue in the circuit for a couple of years more.
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