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Rohan Bopanna is one of the most decorated Indian tennis players along with the likes of Leander Peas and Mahesh Bhupathi. At the age of 44, he will enter the Paris Olympics 2024 as India's oldest athlete.
Back in 2017, Bopanna won the first Grand Slam of his career, taking the mixed doubles title in the French Open alongside Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski. 2024 has been a fairytale for Bopanna, as he won the Australian Open men’s doubles title in January with Australia's Matthew Ebden.
Riding on his success at the hard-court major, Bopanna also became the oldest World No. 1 in men's tennis. Moreover, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri in the ongoing year.
Notably, Bopanna also played in the final of doubles at the US Open in 2010 and 2023 but ended up as runner-up both times.
Rohan Bopanna’s journey in the Olympics
Rohan Bopanna had a golden chance to help India win their second Olympic medal in tennis at Rio 2016. But partnering Sania Mirza in mixed doubles, he lost the bronze-medal playoff match 1-6, 6-7 against Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic.
Rohan Bopanna now has another chance to win an Olympic medal. He sealed his berth to Paris as he was among the top 10 players in the ATP men's doubles rankings on the cut-off date.
He then picked N Sriram Balaji as his partner for the quadrennial event over Yuki Bhambri. Balaji could be a tough customer to deal with on clay considering the tennis event will be played at Stade Roland Garros in Paris.
Bopanna and Balaji will be up against Fabien Reboul and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the opening round of the Olympics. The duo recently played in the German Open where they crashed out after losing to Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner in the pre-quarterfinals.
