Indian tennis legend Rohan Bopanna, a three-time Olympic participant, has announced his retirement from the national team following a first-round loss in the men’s doubles at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Despite his exit from national duty, the 44-year-old world No. 4 plans to continue competing on the ATP circuit.
“This will definitely go down as my last event for the country,” Bopanna told PTI after his match with N Sriram Balaji. He added that he looks forward to enjoying the tennis circuit as long as he can. His retirement from national events marks the end of a distinguished career that included a gold medal in mixed doubles with Rutuja Bhosale at the 2023 Asian Games and a 21-year Davis Cup journey, which concluded with a victory over Morocco in September.
Bopanna’s Olympic journey began in London 2012, where he reached the second round in men’s doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi. In Rio 2016, he and Sania Mirza narrowly missed a medal in mixed doubles, while his men’s doubles partnership with Leander Paes fell short in the opening round. Bopanna did not compete in Tokyo 2020.
In early 2024, Bopanna made history as the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era by securing the Australian Open men’s doubles title with Matthew Ebden. This victory marked his second Grand Slam win, with his first being the 2017 French Open mixed doubles title.
Leave a Reply