Bopanna creates history at 43- wins grand slam , Sabalenka retain ladies title AO 2024

Rohan Bopanna creates world record.  He became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam in the Open era of tennis.  He won the Grand Slam at the age of 43 years and 11 months.  Bopanna won the Australian Open men's doubles trophy with teammate Matthew Ebden at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.  They defeated Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6, 7-5 in the final.  This is Bopanna's first trophy in doubles.  He also has a Grand Slam in mixed doubles before this.

 In the men's category, the previous record for the oldest trophy was held by French player Jean-Julien Roger.  He won the French Open in 2022 at the age of 40 years and 9 months.  Accompanied by Marcelo Arevola.  Before that, Mike Bryan won the 2018 US Open at the age of 40 years and 4 months.  Another Indian Leander Paes is third in the list.  He won the 2013 US Open at the age of 40 years and 2 months.  Bopanna surpassed all of them.

 However, Martina Navratilova holds the record for the oldest Grand Slam win between men and women.  He won the Australian Open mixed doubles in 2003 with Leander Paes.  Navratilova was 46 years and 261 days old at that time.  Bopanna could have set this record during last year's US Open.  But that time he lost to the pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury

 As soon as Bopanna's match ended, shouts rose from the Melbourne gallery, 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.  No one can remember the last time this shout was heard in the name of an Indian where Bopanna's teammate is an Australian.  The three tennis stars Sania Mirza, Somdev Debavarman and Purab Raja who sat to give commentary in sony also praised Bopanna.  Bopanna may not have as many Grand Slams as Paes or Mahesh Bhupathi.  But Bopanna's name was associated with a rare history of tennis.  Tennis experts believe that it will be difficult to break this precedent of Bopanna in modern 'power tennis'.

The turning point in Saturday's match was Bopanda's break in the eleventh game of the second set.  They broke Bolelli-Vavassori.  Until then, both pairs were holding their own services.  It was thought that the second set was going to be a tiebreaker like the first set.  At that time, Bopanna's net play and Ebden's strong service made the difference in the match.

 In an hour and 40 minute fight, Bopanna showed dominance in the service.  The first service won points in 80 percent of cases.  The did not give a single break point to the opponent.  Not only that, this pair has repeatedly brought out the best tennis at crucial times.  A return was also crucial in the first set tiebreaker.  After that, there is the break point of the second set.  All the seven sets that went to tiebreakers in the entire competition were won by Bopanna.

 Bopanna, 43, became the third Indian male player to win a Grand Slam in the Open era.  Paes and Bhupati have this precedent.  Bopanna is going to become number one in the ATP doubles rankings as the oldest player next week.  His teammate Ebden will be number two.  Ebden won one doubles earlier.  Won Wimbledon in 2022 paired with Max Purcell.

Meanwhile Aryna Sabalenka beat Zheng Qinwen of China in a hopelessly one sided final by 6-2 , 6-3 to win her 2nd consecutive Australian Open & this time in her campaign she did not lose a single set  . Sabalenka served strongly and her furious groundstrokes proved to be too much for the Chinese opponent who could not provide much resistance  . With players like Rybakina , Iga Swaitek losing in earlier rounds and Sabalenka herself beating Gauff in semis , the Australia Open womens  final of 2024 proved to be a highly barren affair .