43-year old Bopanna became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion, winning the men’s doubles title
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Rohan Bopanna and his playing partner Matthew Ebden of Australia beat the top-ranked pair of Dutchman Wesley Koolhof and Briton Neal Skupski through 6-3 2-6 10-8 to claim their second title together and first of the season at the Indian Wells. With this empowering victory, 43-year old Bopanna became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion, winning the men’s doubles title.
Former doubles world #3 Bopanna, who comes from a family owning coffee plantations in Coorg district in Karnataka, credited coffee for his success. “It’s the Indian coffee that I keep having when traveling. That’s the secret. The biggest thing is to make sure you recover well after matches and that’s really helped me,” Bopanna said. Bopanna beat the record held by former partner Daniel Nestor and said taking care of his body had paid off.
“That’s the most important part, especially when you’re getting older. Some days I tell Matt I maybe just practiced 20 minutes, but I’d rather rest the body and be ready for our matches,” Bopanna said.
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open, is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States.
“Truly special. It’s called Tennis Paradise for a reason. I’ve been coming here over the years and seeing all these guys win and I’m really happy that Matt and I were able to do this and get this title here,” Bopanna said. “There have been some tough matches, close matches and today we played against one of the best teams out there, so I’m really happy we got the title.”
Indian doubles great Mahesh Bhupathi hailed former playing partner Bopanna’s longevity and ability to peak late in his career. “Bring it home Bofors,” Bhupathi tweeted, alluding to the nickname Bopanna has earned because of his booming serve.
