{"id":363299,"date":"2024-01-27T12:14:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T13:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=363299"},"modified":"2024-01-28T01:03:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T01:03:40","slug":"call-it-a-day-stars-sad-admission-before-historic-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=363299","title":{"rendered":"'Call it a day': Star's sad admission before historic win"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\ufefff you asked Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna a few years ago if he could see himself being crowned an Australian Open<\/a> men's doubles champion, he probably wouldn't have believed you.<\/p>\n

But, in 2024, the 43-year-old, alongside Australian partner Matt Ebden<\/a>, did just that at Melbourne Park, taking down Italy's Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in straight sets<\/a> 7-6, 7-5.<\/p>\n

It was a special victory in more ways than one for Bopanna, who didn't even think he'd be playing tennis after a rough few years on court.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Serena-esque' Sabalenka goes back-to-back<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Crowd 'disturbance' halts women's final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The moment champ realised language barrier\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"A couple of years ago, I sent a video message and said 'I'm going to call it a day', because I was not winning matches," Bopanna said on Nine post match.<\/p>\n

"I went five months without winning a match."<\/p>\n

\"Ebden,<\/p>\n

\ufeffBut as fate would have it, his time in the spotlight was far from over.<\/p>\n

"I thought that was going to be the end of my journey. But perserverance inside me just kept me going and changed so many things. I found a wonderful partner (Ebden)," he said.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

It was a truly historic moment for Bopanna, who at 43 became the oldest men's doubles champion in grand slam history.<\/p>\n

"You've definitely got to know how old I am, I'm sure," he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I say I'm level 43 not age 43!<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Last time I had my in-laws here I actually won the mixed doubles, so I don't know why they're not coming more.<\/p>\n

Following the 'Special Ks' (Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis) in 2022, and the 'Kinkys' (Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler) in 2023, Ebden's win alongside Bopanna marked the third-straight year that at least one Aussie player had won the title, continuing a dominant and resurgent era for the host nation at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

"It's been such a dream come true to win here in Australia in front of all our home fans," he said post-match.<\/p>\n

"Thank you to all our Australian fans, it's been my favourite tournament forever and I'll keep coming back here forever."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\ufefff you asked Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna a few years ago if he could see himself being crowned an Australian Open men's doubles champion, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":363301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=363299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363303,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363299\/revisions\/363303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/363301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=363299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=363299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=363299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}