The pair of Rohan Bopanna of India and Matthew Ebden of Australia has faced defeat in the men’s doubles final of US Open Tennis. Bopanna-Ebden were defeated by Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury of Britain 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final match played at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York on Friday (September 8). This final match lasted for two hours and one minute.
Bopanna missed out on creating history
Had 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna won the final, he would have become the oldest male player to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era. The record of winning the Grand Slam title at the oldest is in the name of Jean-Julien Roger of the Netherlands. Jean-Julien Roger won the men’s doubles title at the 2022 French Open with Marcelo Arevola at the age of 40 years and nine months.
History made.
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are the first to ever 3-peat at the US Open. pic.twitter.com/UoWh5KlCVF
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2023
Rohan and Ebden had entered the final by winning straight sets over the French pair of Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. With this, Rohan became the oldest male player to reach the final of a Grand Slam in the Open era. Before Rohan in the open era, no other male player (singles or doubles) had reached a Grand Slam final at such an age (43 years 6 months). Bopanna broke the record held by Canada’s Daniel Nestor, who had played the final of the 2016 Australian Open at the age of 43 years and four months.
Bopanna-Ebden, seeded sixth, started brilliantly in the final match. In the first set, Bopanna-Ebden broke their opponents’ serve twice, due to which they easily won the opening set. After this, third seed Ram-Salisbury came back very well in the second set and won it 6-3. The match then went to a deciding set, where the American-British pair emerged victorious. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury won the men’s doubles title for the third time in a row at the US Open.
Bopanna has only one Grand Slam title
With this defeat, Rohan Bopanna’s dream of winning the Grand Slam men’s doubles title was shattered. Let us tell you that Rohan Bopanna has won only one Grand Slam title in his tennis career. Bopanna won the mixed doubles title in the French Open Tennis in the year 2017. Then Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada defeated Anna Lina Groenefeld of Germany and Robert Fara of Colombia in the final match.
Bopanna reached the men’s doubles final for the second time
This is the second time that Bopanna had reached a Grand Slam men’s doubles final. He last reached the final of the US Open in 2010 with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. Then Rohan’s pair with Qureshi was defeated by the Bryan brothers. It is a coincidence that he will play in the Grand Slam final hard court.
Bopanna-Ebden missed out on winning the third title this year. The pair won the Qatar Open in February and the Indian Wells titles in March. Both also made it to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July. Rohan Bopanna became the oldest tennis player to win the ATP Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells.