Rohan Bopanna and his unyielding pursuit of glory

Rohan Bopanna’s recent exploits have breathed new life into the flailing health of Indian tennis, which has been gasping for air for some time now. The 43-year-old’s journey, however, offers hope not only for the sport in the country but also for those battling the vagaries of life at large.

To become the oldest man to scale the summit of the ATP Rankings and win a Grand Slam, while playing with worn-out cartilages in both knees at a time when the sport is at its most athletic, is a testament to Bopanna’s relentless perseverance.

A more dedicated focus on recovery and a chance discovery of a style of yoga have been key in Bopanna’s defiant pursuit of excellence, which reached its apogee when he clinched the men’s doubles title at the Australia Open in January with Matthew Ebden.

“At the end of 2019, I got to know I had no cartilage left on my knees. They were fully worn out. I was on two-three painkillers a day. When I came to Bangalore, my doctor (Dr. Madan Ballal) asked me to try the PRP (Platelet-rich plasma) injections.

“He told me he can help me with the injections, but you won’t be straightaway jumping as much as you want. You need to do a lot of strengthening. That’s when I discovered Iyengar Yoga. I was 40 years old. I didn’t think I would discover something new.

“At that juncture, I was in extreme pain, so I decided to give it a try. That is something that has always carried me—my perseverance in constantly trying to find new ways to get better,” Bopanna said after receiving the ‘Ace of Aces’ Award at the Sportstar ACES Awards 2024.

“Somewhere, the pandemic helped me. It gave me four months of time at home to focus on something and build strength in my legs again. That made a tremendous difference. Every time I went to the gym and started lifting weights, I had extreme pain in my knees. This yoga was so specific that it started building my hamstrings and quads.

“I could see the muscle coming back into my legs. Suddenly, after two to three months, when I started playing tennis again, I had no pain. That is where the belief came back again. I could enjoy tennis again and play without any pain. I didn’t think that day would ever come. Today, I am happily playing without any painkillers,” he added.

It is not just the overcoming of physical pain and setbacks that embody Bopanna’s indomitable spirit, but also his mental resilience. Following his triumph in Melbourne, he admitted to wanting to quit the sport a couple of years ago because of an extended barren run of about four-five months.

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But patience is a virtue that has stood him in good stead. After all, it took him 13 years to reach his second Slam doubles final (2010 US Open to the 2023 US Open), a period that also coincided with a 10-year-long wait for his two previous career-high rankings (No. 3 in 2013 to No.3 in 2023).

That wait bore fruit, but time seems to be running out as ‘the grand old man of Indian tennis’ awaits a partner for the upcoming Paris Olympics.

“I would love to play with one of the guys in a few tournaments. Unfortunately, I have told them they need to get their ranking up. We won’t get into any of the Masters series or the ATP 500s because all the guys ranked today are 60 and below.

Unfortunately, there is no chance of getting into the mixed doubles because the only way to get in is combined ranking. Top-10 only gets you a partner for the men’s doubles. So, mixed doubles is out of the question because there is nobody from the women’s side ranked that high,” he said.

He also urged the players not to miss the upcoming clay-court season in order to prepare for a surface that is not typically preferred by the Indians.

It is said that being at the top can be a lonely experience in elite sports. At ‘Level 43’, as he likes to refer to his age-defying success, Bopanna will hope for someone to take on the baton. That would be another burden off his shoulder.