Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 27, 2024 India's Rohan Bopanna reacts during the men's doubles final with Australia's Matthew Ebden against Italy's Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori REUTERS/Ciro De Luca
(Reuters) -Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna announced his retirement at the age of 45 on Saturday, ending a professional career spanning more than two decades in which he captured two Grand Slam titles and also became the oldest men's doubles world number one.
Bopanna became the oldest men's Grand Slam champion in the professional era that began in 1968, when he won the Australian Open doubles title with Australia's Matthew Ebden last year, a win that marked his rise to the top of the rankings.
His major trophy cabinet also includes the French Open mixed doubles title that he won partnering Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski in 2017.
"How do you bid farewell to something that gave your life its meaning? After 20 unforgettable years on tour, it's time ... I'm officially hanging up my racket," Bopanna said in a social media post.
In 2024, Bopanna became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion by claiming the men's doubles title in Miami aged 44, with Ebden by his side again, beating his own record set a year ago in Indian Wells.
He won 26 men's doubles titles professionally and also represented India in the Davis Cup and multi-sport events including the Olympics and Asian Games.
Bopanna, who hails from a coffee-growing family in Coorg district in the south Indian state of Karnataka, also captured the men's doubles gold in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and the mixed doubles title in Hangzhou four years later.
"Representing India has been the greatest honour of my life. Each time I walked onto the court with the tricolour beside me, I felt its pride and its value," he added.
"Every serve, every point, every match - I played for that flag, for that feeling, for my country."
His final professional match was at the ongoing Paris Masters where he partnered Alexander Bublik in a 7-5 2-6 10-8 defeat by John Peers and James Tracy in the last 32.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
