Rohan Bopanna

Rohan Bopanna (/bəˈpɑːnə/ bə-PAHN-ə; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. Recently, most of his appearances in professional tournaments have been in doubles matches. He has been a member of the Indian Davis Cup team since 2002. In 2010, he finished as a runner-up in doubles at the US Open, partnering with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. He won the 2017 French Open mixed-doubles title with Gabriela Dabrowski becoming the fourth Indian player to win a Grand Slam title.

Bopanna partnered with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in doubles in 2007. The duo, nicknamed the IndoPak Express, went on to win four Challenger titles in quick succession. However, it was only in the 2010 season that the pair broke into the top-ten doubles teams. That year, they reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, finished runners-up in the US Open and in five ATP Tour events, and won the Johannesburg Open.

Rohan began playing tennis at the age of 11 because his father wanted him to pursue an individual sport. He did enjoy other games like hockey and football, but by the time he turned 19, tennis became his main priority. His father, M. G. Bopanna, is a coffee planter, and his mother, Malika Bopanna, is a housewife. Both his parents are ardent supporters of Rohan's career. They live in Coorg/ Kodagu District in the South Indian State of Karnataka, which is a six-hour drive from Bangalore. He has an older sister who lives in Mumbai. Growing up, Rohan idolizedand was greatly influenced by Stefan Edberg. He made his Davis Cup debut for India versus Australia in September 2002 and turned pro in 2003. He completed his education from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College which comes under the umbrella of Jain University, Bengaluru.

2007

Bopanna distinguished himself as one of India's finest doubles players at the 2007 Hopman Cup. He lost his first singles match, but helped clinch a 2–1 victory with Sania Mirza over the Czech Republic in the final and decisive mixed doubles match. In their second confrontation against Croatia, the scenario was repeated, with Mirza winning her singles match while Bopanna lost. Together they defeated the Croats in mixed doubles to end up with four points out of three matches. India lost to Spain to finish runners-up in Group B, with Mirza and Bopanna losing both their singles matches, but winning in mixed doubles.

2008

Bopanna won the men's doubles title at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles with partner Eric Butorac. This was his first ATP title.

2009

Rohan started the season fairly well by qualifying for the Chennai Open, but lost in the first round of the main draw. In February, he made it to the final of the SAP Open in San Jose, California, partnering with Jarkko Nieminen.

2010: First Grand Slam doubles final

Rohan Bopanna started the year on a high, reaching the quarterfinals of the Chennai Open, partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi.

In February, with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Bopanna won his second, and the duo's first, ATP doubles title, beating Karol Beck and Harel Levy in the final of the SA Tennis Open in a super-tiebreak. The duo reached the final of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco. They reached the final of the Nice Open, before losing to the Brazilian pair of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares.

In June, Bopanna and Qureshi made it to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time in their careers at the Wimbledon Championships.

After a successful Wimbledon, Bopanna and Qureshi achieved another finals finish at the Atlanta Open. They beat the world No. 1 pair of the Bryan brothers in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. They lost their semifinal match to Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles. They then reached the final of the New Haven Open at Yale and the St. Petersburg Open.

At the US Open, Bopanna reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. Bopanna and Qureshi were seeded 16th and beat the American team of Brian Battistone and Ryler DeHeart in the first round. In the second round, they eliminated Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets. In the third round, the pair upset the second seeds Daniel Nestor and Zimonjic, again in straight sets. In a highly entertaining quarterfinal, Bopanna's big serves made a difference as they knocked out Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman. In their first semifinal appearance, the duo defeated the Argentine pair of Schwank and Zeballos, still in straight sets. The big-serving Bopanna was spot-on again, as he accumulated one ace after another. Bopanna even pounded an overhead over his shoulder, while retrieved a lob to force an error, causing a commentator to compare it to Roger Federer's between-the-legs winners against Novak Djokovic and Brian Dabul. The ambassadors of India and Pakistan to the US supported the duo at the final. The pair took on the world No. 1 and top-seeded Bryan brothers. The pair lost the final in two closely fought set. Bopanna was exceptional on serve and conjured some high-intensity aces.

Bopanna played a decisive role in India's 2010 Davis Cup triumph over Brazil, taking India back to the World Group for the first time since 1998. He won the decider against Ricardo Mello to clinch the tie 3–2 and take India into the World Group for the first time in 19 years. Bopanna finished the 2010 season as world No. 8 in doubles.

2011: Top-ten doubles rankings

Bopanna began the 2011 season with Qureshi at the Chennai Open in early January. With the IndoPak Express and the re-united Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes on opposite sides of the draw, there were hopes for a dream final. However, Bopanna and Qureshi lost in the quarterfinal to eventual finalists Robin Haase and David Martin, 4–6, 5–7.

The duo finished in the semifinals at the Medibank International in Sydney. They exited the Australian Open in the third round.

At the 2011 Davis Cup in Serbia, Bopanna played in singles and doubles with Somdev Devvarman after Paes and Bhupathi pulled out of the tournament due to injuries. Bopanna had many Serbian fans applauding his impressive winners, but having clawed his way back into the match after falling two sets behind, he lost the match in the fifth set, 3–6, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, 3–6. This match enabled Bopanna to qualify for the singles ties to make it to the main draw of the 2011 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Bopanna defeated Canada's Peter Polansky in a close encounter, 7–6, 3–6, 7–5, before outplaying Germany's Daniel Brands in straight sets, 7–6, 7–6, to secure his spot in the top draw. Bopanna upset higher-ranked opponents on the hard courts of the ATP Masters 1000 event.

With Qureshi, he reached the quarterfinals of French Open. The duo won the Gerry Weber Open and exited in the semifinals of the US Open. They won the Stockholm Open against Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, 6–1, 6–3. They reached the quarterfinals in Vienna and Valencia and won in Bercy against Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut, 6–2, 6–4.

They participated in the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals in London, losing their first round-robin match to Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.

2012

In 2012, Bopanna played with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi. They were seeded fourth at the Australian Open, but only made it to the third round. He and Bhupathi won their first title together at Dubai.

Bopanna has been selected to participate in the 2012 London Olympics in the Men's Doubles category partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.

Bopanna refused to partner Leander Paes for doubles event for 2012 Summer Olympics triggering a row which finally led to two participating teams, as Paes partnered with Vishnu Vardhan.

On 20 August 2012 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, Bopanna partnering Mahesh Bhupathi lost toRobert Lindstedt and Horia Tecău in the final 4–6, 4–6.

On 4 November 2012, Bopanna and Bhupathi won the Paris Masters cup.

On 6 November 2012, Boppana and Bhupathi lost the opening match of ATP Tour Finals against Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen but made it to semifinals by defeating Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.

2013

Bopanna and Bhupathi played with different partners for the first three months of 2013, but rejoined forces starting with the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Rohan partnered Édouard Roger-Vasselin in Wimbledon in 2013 and reached the semifinals before bowing out of the competition in a hard-fought match that ended in five sets against the Bryan brothers.

After the team's run at Wimbledon in 2013, Rohan reached his career best ranking of world No. 3 in doubles on 22 July 2013, and was also the first time ranked as the highest Indian on the rankings table.

2017: First Grand Slam mixed-doubles title

Bopanna started the season with Chennai Open where he partnered with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. He lifted his first title at the tournament by defeating pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan in an all Indian final.

He entered the French Open with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski. They won the title beating pair of Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Robert Farah in the final. This was Bopanna's maiden Grand Slam title making him the fourth Indian player to win a Grand Slam title.

In April, he won his fourth Masters title with Pablo Cuevas at Monte-Carlo Masters. They defeated Spanish pair of Feliciano López and Marc López in the final. In August, he paired with Ivan Dodig to reach second Masters final of the season at Rogers Cup. They lost the finals to French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. He finished the year with doubles ranking of 18 winning three titles from six final appearances.

2018: Second mixed-doubles final

Bopanna entered the Australian Open with Hungarian Tímea Babos. They reached the final but lost to pair of Gabriela Dabrowski and Mate Pavić. This was Bopanna's second Grand Slam mixed-doubles final.

For his efforts in bridging political barriers through sports, Rohan Bopanna was nominated in 2010 as a Champion for Peace by Monaco-based organization, Peace and Sport.

Recognized globally for their campaign "Stop War Start Tennis", Bopanna was awarded the renowned Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award in 2010, along with Qureshi. The duo were also voted winners of the Peace and Sport's Image of the Year award by their fans. He was also awarded the Ekalavya Award by the Government of Karnataka in 2005 for his achievements on court.

Rohan Bopanna donates part of the profits generated by sales of ‘Stop War Start Tennis’ merchandise to GoSports Foundation – a not-for-profit organisation that works towards empowering sporting excellence in India. In his hometown Coorg, he works towards generating funds for an Opportunity School that caters to the educational needs of physically handicapped children. Rohan also supports the Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, which endeavours to provide low cost dental treatment and holds several free health and awareness camps.

He is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club, a group of more than 90 famous elite created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization placed under the High Patronage of H.S.H Prince Albert II. This group of top level champions, wish to make sport a tool for dialogue and social cohesion. http://www.peace-sport.org/our-champions-of-peace/

Rohan, who is married to Supriya Annaiah, resides in Bengaluru, where he is also the part owner of a very popular restaurant. A grass-court enthusiast, his favourite tournament is Wimbledon, and his favourite player is Stefan Edberg.

Grand Slam tournaments

Doubles: 1 (1 runner up)

Mixed: 2 (1 title, 1 runner up)

Year-end championships finals

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Masters 1000 finals

Doubles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Olympic finals

Mixed doubles: 1 runner-up

Doubles: 46 (19 titles, 27 runner-ups)